The Knight Of Mahora Academy
by Master Attlon
Summary: He was saved by those people. The group that was greater than legend, heroes and gods among the people. And he grew up by their example. Of strength. Of courage. Of determination. And now, he will show this new team their message.
1. Rendezvous With A-Holes

The Knight Of Mahora Academy

Period 1: Rendezvous with Ass-holes

Ahhhhh, so many memories of a series that brought us so much happiness and joy. I remember in the good old days when those little whippersnappers were fighting against that Cosmo Entelichiwhatchamacallit. And that little white haired hooligan was aiming for that there world devastation and reconstruction. But that little gentlemen and his harlittons saved the whole world with that there broken fella. Ah, good times.

So yeah, it has been over a year since the ending of Negima and I lost one of my favorite manga series ever. Good news is that I have started to get into another series called Magi which is sort of like Negima and is actually very funny. I wonder what that would mean, huh?

Anyway, on with the show.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

In the heavy forest and thick foliage, several figures pushed their way through the fallen trees and multiple vines. A few miles ahead of them was a massive structure with an open round top and several other smaller towers surrounding it. A bright light seemed to be fluctuating from the top of the building as the moon shined down on the green landscape beneath it. To most, it was a sign of transcendent beauty and ethereal wonder.

To most of the group pushing through, it was a pain in the ass.

"God damn it! Why are we moving through the trees like a bunch of monkeys? We could have just cleared this whole place in a sec!" A young looking man mused as he pushed a branch out of his face, just for it to escape his reach and smack him in the mouth. He spit out several leaves before gathering a fair amount of electrical magic into his fist. Before he could even throw it, he was sent flying by a fist making harsh contact with his cheek.

"You idiot, I told you not to use magic while we approach the tower. While she's being used, all of your power could be depleted and you will become useless before we even reach our destination. So stop your whining and man up." The feminine figure said as she stood over the twitching, unconscious body with her arm under her ample bosom.

"E-Ehehehe. I-I think Nagi-San can't hear you right now, Arika-sama."

A young gentleman with light colored hair, wearing a suit similar to the older gentleman behind him mused as he tried to mediate the conflict between the loving couple.

"What? He won't fall to something like this. Right Nagi?" Arika nudged the red-headed idiot as swirls appeared in his eyes. She growled as she got on her knees and grabbed her savior by his cloak. "Don't pass out you idiot!" She raised her right hand and gathered some of her infamous Royal Magic into it.

"Pull! Yourself! Together!" Each member of the small group winced as the former queen brutally slapped the Thousand Master across the face.

"Wasn't she the one who just said that we shouldn't be using our magic in the vicinity of the tower?" Takamichi felt a cold sweat run down the back of his neck as he watched the not-so-subtle domestic abuse happen in front of him. He then felt a rough and calloused hand grab his shoulder and some smoke rise from the cigarette in the other hand.

"It's alright Takamichi. Just stand back and let nature take its course. We may be watching the last few moments of the great Thousand Master take place right now."

"Th-that's a very bleak way of looking at the situation Gateau-Sensei!"

"But it may be accurate." A tall man wearing a robe with a hood said as he walked pass them and headed straightforward. "Perhaps Arika-sama wishes to see if her methods could cure Nagi of his idiocracy." The man said with a calm voice and a smile that just telegraphed that he was teasing.

"I think that would be about as easy as curing cancer Al." A tall man wearing a black sweater and jeans said as he walked forward towards the trees. In a flash of light, he unsheathed the sword at his side, slashed, and re-sheathed his long katana. The trees all fell apart in pieces as a clear sight of the tower they were walking toward came into sight. "Come. If we wish to rescue her, we shouldn't waste time."

"You're right Eishun. No more wasting time! Is that clear everyone!" All of Ala Rubra looked at the woman with judging eyes. She looked down to her side where she was holding a beaten and bruised Nagi, even worse off than he was before the beating. Arika coughed into her fist with a embarrassed blush spread across her face. "I-I mean, from here on out."

The heroes of the Magical World set off towards their destination once again. Heading towards the tower where the remnant members of the former Megalomesembrian Senate Controlled Factions were using their secret weapon to break the boundaries of Magic. Risking the very stability of Mundus Magicus to further their military power against some to the other State ruled factions in the world.

The small but immensely powerful team continued not solely for the reason of Mundus Magicus, but for the suffering of a little girl. So they hoped to end this all tonight. Tonight, would be the last night of pain for-

"Wait." Everyone stopped as Eishun froze in place and looked around them. "We're missing an idiot."

The whole team then noticed that a certain dark-skinned giant moron was absent from their sight. Most of the team looked around in panic and worry.

Cause if anyone could fuck this up for them...it was the #1 Impossible Idiot.

Takamichi tapped Gateau on his shoulder. "What is it Takamichi?" The younger man pointed his finger for the whole group to see.

Their attention was brought to a suspiciously massive bush that looked like a certain titanic man. It was moving very slowly through the grass and toward the tower. And if you listened carefully, you could hear the odd sounds of "sneaky, sneaky" emanating from the leaves.

The entire group, even Al with his eyes covered by his hood, were looking at the bush pathetically with flat black eyes. Arika said out loud, "What are you doing Jack?" The bush froze in shock.

A head of spiky white hair popped out of the bush as the man with the headband looked at her in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"...Lucky guess."

"Well I was hiding in the bush and planning to sneak into the tower. Then I would make my way all the way to the top, wait for the perfect opportunity, knock the guys out, take back the Lil'Princess, and come back to be the hero." Rakan finished with a smug smirk on his face.

"All while dressed like a plant?"

"Yep."

"Course. Cause no one ever questions the inconspicuously placed bush with legs."

"Exactly! See, Eishun gets it. Now, if you'll excuse me..." He ducked his head back into the bush and made his way back to sneaking in. "Sneaky, sneaky, sneak-"

A red idiot was tossed at full strength at the white idiot as a pile of morons was left on the ground in the trees. The rest of Ala Rubra walking away shamefully.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

It was always eyes of hate.

No matter where he was. No matter who saw him. No matter what he did, it was always the same.

Seniors. Adults. Teenagers. Kids.

All looking at him with eyes drenched in contempt.

The five-year old kid stood out in front of the ramen place as he watched adults passing by go home for the night, looking at him like he was a disease to humanity.

He expected it now. Whenever he would meet somebody new, he expected people to just look at him like he was a monster.

"Naruto-kun?" The blond youngster perked up and looked behind him. He saw the face of his Pseudo-caretaker smile down at him as he walked out of the ramen place. "Are you ready to go home?"

Naruto gave the old man a weak smile as he walked besides him towards his apartment. He turned around and waved to the kind old Ramen owner and his teenage daughter as they waved back to him.

Those two and Jii-chan were some of the only people that looked at him like he was a person. Not with eyes full of pity or hate, but just like he was the little boy he was. No more. No less.

As Naruto and Hiruzen continued walking to the little boy's apartment, Naruto looked up at the sky. "Jii-chan?"

"Yes Naruto-kun?"

"I know I keep asking this, but..." He looked at the old man sadly, "why do they hate me?"

The wise old ninja looked down at the sorrowful boy with a regretful gaze, his face twisted in discomfort. This was a question that the young lad had asked him many times over. And each time, he found it harder and harder to find an answer he thought was suitable for him.

"Naruto-kun, all these people. All the adults and grown-ups you see everyday, they all experienced a horrible pain that they can never forget. And people will always find it hard to forgive experiences like that in their lifetime." Naruto's eyes slightly narrowed, so little that even an experienced ninja like Hiruzen would find it hard to tell he did.

Naruto knew exactly about what this horrible pain was. The Kyūbi attack he had heard about that occurred on the day he was born. And for some reason, all of these people found it necessary to blame him for the disaster just because he was born on that day.

"But why Jii-chan? Why do I have to be hated because of something like that?" The little boy yelled as loud as he could as he threw his arms down to his side. Hiruzen looked down at the young boy as his shoulders were shivering and he was gritting his teeth. "I hate them. I hate how they look at me. I hate how they treat me. I hate-"

Naruto's eyes widened when Hiruzen fell to his knees and tightly grasped the saddened boy in a hug. Naruto looked to his side to where the man in the large red hat has attempted to console the boy from his pain.

"Naruto-kun...I understand...I know how much it hurts for you. How lonely you must feel. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Naruto's eyes slowly closed as tears welled up and formed in the corners.

He wrapped his arms around the old man in return. "Wh-what do I have to do Jii-chan? Why can't people see me as Naruto? Why am I a freak? Why am I a monster?" He sobbed softly as the old man rubbed his back, trying to help him calm down as the street lights turned on and the sun completely fell from view.

Hiruzen pulled himself back and placed his hand on top of Naruto's head. "Naruto-kun. I look at you as you. You are nothing more to me then one of my most precious people. Just a little boy who has been horribly wronged." He smiled sadly as Naruto looked slightly up at him as his sniffles died down. "And if I see you as Naruto Uzumaki, then I know that there will be many others who can understand you as well. Who will be able to see that lovable, snot-nosed little boy that loves ramen more than life itself."

"How can you know that Jii-chan? Everyone loves you. You're the Hokage. Everyone will always love you because-" Hiruzen just tussled Naruto's hair as he just smiled at the little boy.

"Naruto-kun, there will be a time when you will find people that can accept you for everything you are. And you will know that those are the people you can cherish forever. And just like me, you will have to protect them with everything you can. So when you find them, never give them up, okay?" Naruto sniffed one last time before giving the old man a reluctant smile.

"Does that mean I should be wearing your hat?"

"Ahahahaha! Maybe when you grow up!" Hiruzen and Naruto chuckled as they came close to Naruto's apartment level. Naruto opened his door and walked in, seeing the same old empty room he had grown accustomed to. Naruto slowly walked over to his bed and pulled himself up to sit on the edge. He sat there a while as he swung his legs back and forth aimlessly.

"Fight for something?" Naruto's head perked up and he ran over to his cupboard and opened it up. He reached in and pulled out an extra white sheet for his bed. He grabbed the end of one side with his teeth and pulled, ripping a long strand of the white fabric. He reached up to his table and grabbed a pen that was laid on the side. He then laid it down on the floor and started to draw on the ripped sheet.

He smiled and lifted up the sheet and tied it around his head like the ninjas tied their headbands. On his, instead of the symbol of the leaf, there was a crudely drawn and uneven swirl like the one printed on the boy's shirt. Naruto jumped up on his bed and pointed up to his ceiling, "How do you like me know everybody? This will be one ninja you can't help but love! Naruto Uzumaki is coming for you!"

The boy then started to run around his apartment and throw punches and kicks in the air. And as the night went on, Naruto fell asleep in the dark, his new headband still tied around his head.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The hooded men all walked in synch as they headed towards the center of the tower, where the ritual for their weapon retrieval would take place. The men all carried a chain which was attached to the collar of a little girl in the center of them. They arrived and walked the girl forward until she was in the center of the magical array, where they pushed her down on her knees.

One of the men walked up to the head priest. "Sir, are you sure that this will work again? All of the previous attempts we have made on this transport prove to be unsuccessful. And to use this girl so leisurely is a grave danger that we are unleashing into this world-"

"It does not matter what happens to this world. Not to the useless existences that plague this world. All that matters is that we find a new power to make our own. And if it can withstand the travel..." He turned around to the lower subordinate, giving him a horrifying smirk that would send shivers down the back of the sane. He turned back towards the magical circle sketched into the ground and raised his hands, light filling into the circle at his feet.

All of the fellow cult members followed his example, raising their hands and channelling their magic towards controlling the little girl's power. The little twin-tailed girl at the center threw her head back, screaming in agonizing pain as they forced her Magic Cancel to break down the separated dimensional barriers.

The air around them crackled and a magic circle appeared above them. A bright light enveloped her and the priests as they tried to locate a new source of power.

The tower shined in a blinding light and an ear-piercing ring as Nagi and his team looked up at it in shock. The red-haired man gritted his teeth in anger, "Shit! Hurry!"

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Naruto snored lightly as the moon rose above the Hidden Leaf Village.

The cold midnight winds bustled as his apartment window started to shutter slightly.

Deep within a sewer system, behind a set of massive metal bars, a titanic demon rested tiredly. Another day had passed. Another meaningless day where he was stuck in the body of this useless human child. Watching the masses of flesh-bags shun him for the work the great demon inside of him did of destroying their homes and slaughtering their families.

Well, at least the humans knew his quality work when they saw it.

Suddenly, the Kyūbi felt a stirring and a cold shiver run through his back. He lifted his head and looked around, trying to find the source of the strange uneasiness.

Suddenly, a strange array of circles appeared underneath the beast, lighting up the entire dark prison so brightly it appeared like daytime to him. The circles started to revolve, the strange runes inside of them spinning around and shining so brightly that Kyūbi had to cover his eyes before he was blinded.

The fox felt like something was pulling him in, like every cell and atom in his body was being violently yanked. His body crashed against the cell bars, trying to forcefully push him through them even if his body couldn't stand the stress. He gritted his teeth as he looked down and saw that his arms and legs had started to fade. He thrashed around, trying to escape from the hold this strange ritual had on him but found it futile.

Naruto woke up startled, feeling a strange, inhuman burning sensation in his stomach. He grabbed it, moaning in pain as he laid down in the bed. His legs were kicking uncontrollably as his muscles spasm and his back arched.

Both the boy and fox screamed in pain, a magical circle appearing over Naruto's body as he screamed in agony, spit coming down his chin from the uncontrollable yelling. Kyūbi bashed his skull against the bars trying to escape from the pain that spiked through his entire being. Naruto grabbed his head in pain, an unnatural light illuminating the apartment as underneath his shirt, a black sun-like pattern grew over his belly.

Naruto threw his head back, his eyes white from the sheer pain as his body glowed. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And in a flash, he vanished.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Naruto walked through the empty white space which he suddenly found himself in. The horrifying pain he had experienced a moment ago had vanished. He was no longer in his own room. And he felt almost no heat, wind, cold or anything. It was just him in this wide empty place.

And he was alone.

Naruto walked for what could have been hours or even a few seconds, in every direction he could go. It felt lonely. Like he was by himself all over again. Well, that was to be expected in a place like this.

After wandering around for god knows how long, he saw something. A little bit of darkness in the endless light. A shadow that was smaller then the point of a needle over the horizon. Naruto looked at it in shock before his body started to make its way toward it. And then, he started to run, as fast and as long as he could until he reached that little dot in the distance. His breathing became ragged. Drops of sweat came down his brow and into his headband. Until finally...

He reached it.

It was a girl.

He looked down at the figure that was on her knees, looking up into the vast blank sky with shut eyes. She was wearing some kind of strange robes with long white sleeves and brown shoulders and collar. Her orange hair was done up into twin tails with a bandage to tie them down. She made almost no outward change in noting that he was standing beside her.

Naruto walked in front of her. "Hello?"

She didn't react to him.

"Helloooooooooo?"

Nothing.

Naruto grabbed her shoulders and shook her around, "Hey!"

The girl slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the boy with the crudely drawn headband as he blinked in surprise. Her left eye was cerulean blue and her right was emerald green. But the thing that had caught his attention was that her eyes were empty. There was no fear. No worry. No excitement or shock.

Her eyes were blank.

Naruto shook his head, trying to get back on track. "What are you doing here? Where are we?"

The girl continued to just look up at him. Naruto felt his eye twitch.

"Do you understand me?"

The girl nodded her head very slowly.

"Okay. I guess that's a start." He let go of her shoulders and turned around, looking for anyone he could find. Because if this girl was here, there must have been someone else here too. "Hello! Is anyone out there! We're lost and we need help!" He kept screaming as loud as he could until he heard a quiet and weak voice underneath his own.

"There's...no one."

Naruto blinked surprisingly and looked behind him to the girl who was looking down at the floor.

"There...isn't anyone here. There's...no one here. I keep coming in and out of this place, but in the end I always come back. And there's no one here..."

Naruto stared at her worryingly before looking around to see if anybody was around and saw that there was still no change. He lowered his head with a haunted look in his eyes. He walked over and sat down in front of her. "Don't you have friends or family?"

"My friends...family...I can't remember. I...I had a sister...but I don't think I've seen her for so long. And her stupid friend...I can't remember what he was like. But every time I wake up...I get hurt and then...I come back here. It's always the same. I'm always here. No one else." She said it with no change in emotion. She wasn't sad or upset. She was just stating a fact.

Naruto looked at her and felt his eyes fall in understanding and despair. This was like how it felt for him. Like everywhere he looked, he was alone. Nobody gave him a second look. All he had was Jii-chan and the ramen stand, but that might be gone now too. So here he was, alone with a someone else who had nothng.

So he reached out and grabbed her hand, causing her to look up at the boy who had a sad smile on his face. "I'm here."

She tilted her head to the side, keeping her oddly empty gaze.

"I don't really get where this is? Or how we got here? But we aren't going to be here forever, I promise. I'll find some way we get out of here and we can find your sister and I can go back home. Okay?" He said with a hopeful smile and reached his hand out to let her shake it, like he saw the adults in his village do.

The girl just looked at it oddly before she started to poke his hand. Naruto watched her look at his outstretched hand with some wonder before he chuckled lightly. "You're not too smart, are you?"

The girl just tilted her head and didn't answer.

"Whatever. Oh hey, I don't know your name yet. Mine is Naruto Uzumaki." He said with much pride as he stood up and wiped his chest. He reached down to offer his hand to the little girl, "What's yours?"

The girl looked at her hand and followed his example, reaching up and coming close to taking his hand. "I'm..."

Naruto didn't know what happened as the girl's voice suddenly went silent as the white surroundings were changing into pitch black. Naruto tried to swipe the darkness away and desperately tried to escape. He reached out, trying to grab the girl's hand as she was also being swallowed up by the black.

Naruto tried to yell out to her but couldn't find his voice as everything turned dark.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

A magical array opened in the thick of the forest, causing the trees and bushes to be pushed back by the wind. Then, a small body fell out of the magical circle as he hit the ground and grunted in pain.

The blond boy with whiskers lifted his head, his eyes bleary and filled with pain as he held his chest in suffering. He slowly lifted his head, looking up towards the massive tower that stood a few meters away from him, breathing out smoke as explosions riddled the body of the structure. Giant white monsters growled as they swatted at flying lights that slashed them apart like butter.

Naruto buckled in fear, trying to crawl his way to his feet and run before he was caught in anymore trouble.

A spike of pain shot through his whole body, causing him to scream and fall on his knees. He clawed at his chest as a red, bubble-like substance started to appear out of his clothes. His eyes widened in fear, the colors changing from blue to slitted red and the whole eye even becoming solid yellow for an instant.

The bubbles appeared over certain parts of his body, appearing splotchy and uneven as his right eye became red and the bubbles over his left side turned black and made his eye yellow.

The boy monster stumbled forwards, chest heaving as the constant pain struck through his entire body. He lifted his head and threw it back-

**"GWOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!"**

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Nagi chased the hooded men throughout the entire tower, the men screaming in fear as the red-head smiled like a demon. "Don't try to run ya bastards! Just stay there and accept yer ass kicking like men!" He charged up his hand and swiped it along their feet, blowing up the ground and sending the men flying in the walls.

Behind him; Gateau, Arika and Al were all keeping the masses of cult members busy by blowing them up. Outside, Eishun and Jack were holding a competition to see who could cut the biggest monster into the smallest pieces faster. Despite his valiant efforts and amazing swordplay, Jack couldn't keep up with Eishun's precise and smoother slashes.

So he decided to fuck it and nuke the damn thing. Simple, yet effective.

Takamichi ran through the halls of the tower kicking every door open, trying to find the stairwell to the top of the tower but coming up short each time. After many tires, he found the stairway to the ritual room, "Nagi-San! This Way!" He yelled with a cupped mouth.

Nagi nodded and kicked the cultist away from him, jumping on his wand and speeding forward, grabbing a protesting Takahata by his collar. As The Thousand Master flew up the stairs, he saw another door bolted shut in front of him. He smirked as he came up with an idea.

And they called him an idiot.

"Na-Nagi-San? W-what are you-AHHHHHHH!" Takamichi flew through the door and slid on the floor with his ass in the air. Nagi jumped off the large pole, twirled it in his hand and pointed to the men surrounding the girl in the middle of the room.

"All right assholes! Back away from the emotionally stunted midget and I can promise to leave you with only boot marks so deep in your ass they fade after your great-grand children's generation!" He said with a proud puff of his chest.

"N-Nagi-San...that isn't much of a negotiation tactic..." The well-dressed young man groaned on the floor.

The head cultist chuckled and walked in front of his men as they lifted the blank-eyed girl into a crystal coffin. "Thousand Master, it is such an honor to meet you again. But must you always ruin our rituals like this? These take a lot of time to set up and if we don't get everything just right it may lead to a catastro-"

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the lip service dick cheese! Give me the Lil'Princess right now or I promise you I'll hang you by your short an' curlies!"

He chuckled lightly with his hand to his mouth, "Perhaps another time then..." He snapped his fingers and another magical formation appeared underneath his feet, causing Nagi to tense up.

"Shit!" He dove forward at high speeds to reach the man and the girl in the crystal but just as he was about to reach them, they disappeared into thin air. Nagi stumbled on the floor and righted himself up, looking in every direction for some indication of where they went.

"Damn it... Dammit! DAMMIT!" He punched the ground and cracked the floor, falling to his knees and writhing in anger as he failed to save the little girl once again.

He gritted his teeth together in rage as he felt a palm touch his shoulder and grip it. He looked over his shoulder to see Takamichi looking at him sadly. The younger man did his best to give his friend a smile and encouraging help. "Come on Nagi-San. Let's get back."

Nagi hid his face but nodded in agreement.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The team sat outside patiently as they waited for their other two members to join the group. They heard the faint sounds of footsteps as they all looked over to see Takamichi and Nagi descend down the stairs. Takamichi looking disappointedly down at his feet as Nagi had his eyes shadowed over by his unkept hair.

Gateau pulled out a cigarette and covered his match to light it. He threw the match on the ground and took a long drag. He blew it out, "How did it go?"

Nagi lifted up his head, scratching his neck and destroying the image of his depression. "I fucked it up again. Bastard ran like a bitch with his tail between his taint."

"Haha, way to screw it all up man!" Rakan said as he slapped his knee and laughed like a hyena. Nagi felt a vein pop in his skull as he mashed his teeth.

"Fuck off Jack! If you didn't always blow everything up, maybe you could try and see why you suck so much you god damn bastard!" Nagi tackled Rakan to the ground and started to beat him mercilessly. After several moments, Arika pulled Nagi off of his victim and grabbed his cheeks.

She made him look directly at her as she glared at him. "Are you alright now moron?" Nagi grumbled and nodded his head, getting Arika to nod and smile beatifically. "We will get her next time, okay?"

Nagi sighed at her attempt to cheer him up and just gave her his big old grin. The entire group smiled as they readied themselves to go. "All set guys?"

"Wait, not just yet!" Rakan said with a raised hand as he walked over to a deeper section of the forest. "I gotta drain the old lizard before we get going. I've been holding it in since we crossed the scorching desert and making attempts to save the world really goes right through ya, you know?"

"Jack, shut up and go man." Nagi said as he palmed his face and shook his head in disappointment, everyone other than Arika laughing at the antics.

Rakan walked deep into the trees and opened his trousers, taking a much deserved whizz. The God of the Gladiator World sighed and made himself comfy as he let his head fall back.

Jack looked around the clearing as he heard the sounds of the bushes rustling as something ran through it. He sighed and pulled his pants back up, "Yo, Arika, that you? Want to see what you were missing out when you went with that idiot instead of me, huh?" He strode over to the rustling bushes and pulled them open, expecting to see one of his team trying to pull a useless prank.

His eyes widened in slight wonder at the brand new sight in front of him.

A massive explosion occurred inside the woods as a huge cloud of dust blew up into the sky. Ala Rubra looked on in shock as Nagi just laughed to himself, "Guess Jack was pushing a serious number two out, huh guys?" The saviors of the world relaxed for a moment at the prospect that Rakan probably did something like this as a joke.

Suddenly, Rakan was thrown through the trees and passed his team like a speeding bullet. The group felt the wind pass by them as they looked behind them to where Rakan was pulling himself out of the debris, the only damage they could see was the top right of his shirt was burnt black.

"Yo Jack. You alright?"

"Keep it shut for a minute would ya kid," the massive man said with a smirk as he popped the crick in his neck. "I think I just found the first interesting thing to do all day."

Ala Rubra were about to question him on what he meant when they heard a low growl from the direction Rakan had been thrown flew. From out of the shadows, a strange boy with parts of his body surrounded by red bubbles and other parts charred jet black emerged to meet the group in front of him. His blond hair was spiked up and held up by a headband around his forehead. Strange, rough scars marked his cheek as his eyes were wild and untamed. Four red tails and five black tails flailed around behind him as the boy bent down on all fours, glaring at the people in front of him.

He arched his back and let out a mighty howl, scaring the birds and other wildlife as the sonic boom from his voice rustled the trees. **"GWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Even the group of normally unflappable mages and warriors stared at the monster child in surprise. Eishun broke the silence, "Okay? What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Oh! Oh! I think I've heard about something like this back on Earth! It's called the Chupacabra!" Nagi said excitedly as he bounced around like a child.

"Okay. Perhaps there should be no more suggestions from the moron brigade today?" Albireo said with a smile that was too sweet for the moment.

The hybrid child lowered himself closer to the ground and tensed his legs, cracking the ground beneath him. Naruto dashing towards the closest target, Takamichi. The young apprentice couldn't even react as the boy's clawed hands was close to tearing him in two.

The demon was punched through the thicket of trees, the force from the Gatling-gun like hit came from Gateau as he protected his pupil from the crazed child. He flashed over to in front of the younger man, "Takamichi, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah...I just wasn't expecting that..."

"Yes well perhaps you need to stand back" Gateau placed his hands into his pocket and readied for any more attacks, his Kankahō flaring up. "This could be getting much worse."

Any tree that was still standing was cleared apart by massive red and black claws that made way for the child that was partially frothing. The giant paws were lifted up into the air and smashed into the ground, making the Kankahō Duo, Arika, Al and Eishun jump back to avoid being crushed.

The claws pulled the boy forward and he was sent straight towards Nagi, who stopped looking shocked and then smiled while he got into a fighting stance. The animalistic slashes and moves the boy made in the air were parried by the Thousand Master as he whistled in pleasant amazement. "Hey~, this kid ain't too bad..."

Naruto spun in the air to throw off the rhythm he had set to enlarge his claws and try to crush the red-head powerhouse. Nagi easily Shundō away from the claws as they indented into the ground. He landed on top of the trees and looked down towards Rakan. "Yo Jack! What did you do to piss him off this time?"

"I don't know. Must be something I did. You lose track of how many guys you piss off when you get to my age."

The blond boy's hands dug underneath the earth and he started to let out an animal groan as a massive chunk of ground started to be uprooted, his feet making the ground below him splinter. He lifted up a massive piece of the ground and held it over his head, turning to the group of people behind him as they analyzed his behavior.

He threw the rock with as much force as he could at the still group. Eishun got down in a deep stance with his hand on the blade as in a flash of silver light, he separated the massive rock into eight pieces. Each of the members jumped out of the way as Rakan ran forward and stood in front of the boy.

The child looked up at him with a wild stare as he started to punch at the mass of muscle, finding no leverage of result in his attacks as Rakan stood there taking them with relative ease. He grabbed the black arm of the child as the boy started to desperately try to escape from his grip, even as it started to burn Rakan's hand slightly. "Listen kid, you've got serious guts, sure. But I think its time for you to-"

The black arm he was holding sprouted a second, even bigger hand that was reeling back to rip the man's head off. Rakan looked at it from underneath his bandana with a stone like face, "Huh? Well, don't see that everyday..."

The hand smacked him across the face and sent the Thousand Blades into the trees as the ground started to break underneath Arika's and Eishun's feet. Suddenly, two more claws emerged from the ground and desperately tried to maim the two heroes as Al swooped in and picked up Arika while Eishun jumped away and started to float in the air.

"He is quite the unorthodox lad, isn't he?" Eishun said as he watched Nagi and Rakan start to tease the boy and get his attention while the demonic child swiped at them. He jumped off the ground to reveal that hit feet were feeding two more claws through the dirt and chased whichever of the two men were closer.

"Definitely seems like those two are having a blast playing with him." Al said as he floated in the air, the Queen in his arms looking at the scene with worry.

"It's alright your Majesty, you don't need to worry about those two getting hurt. I'm sure they only need to get their behavior into check and we can set off again." Gateau said as he had Takamichi by the shoulder, the two smartly dressed men appearing at the top of the tree.

"I'm not worried about those fools" Arika said as she put her full concentration on the fight below them. "That boy...do you think he knows what he is doing?" The group looked at her and then back down to the boy, when they noticed that the eye that was hollow red was becoming more fierce yet empty.

"Oh no." Albireo said in a hushed tone as he realized that they were fighting a child against his will. They had become so used to assassination attempts from so many people they had not even considered questioning if they even wanted to do it.

"Do you think he may possessed?" Takamichi said as he watched the boy writhe in pain as he screamed in agony and kept trying to kill Nagi and Rakan as they lost their mirth and looked at the child in worry.

"It's not uncommon for some young children like this to be possessed without their knowing. But I've never seen someone so young be controlled by something so strong and fierce." Gateau jumped down from the tree to get a better look at the boy. "Nagi! Jack! You need to get away from him!"

"Huh?" The two men said as they looked back to the sharply dressed man, the boy still bent down like a feral animal.

"I think he's possessed. We need to stop him before things get any worse. Step back and let Eishun handle this."

"We can just knock him out and you guys can look him over if you want. He's actually pretty fun," Nagi said with a childish smile.

"If he is possessed, we need to exorcise him as quickly as possible. His soul could be damage beyond repair if we don't do something- what is he doing?"

Nagi, Rakan, Gateau and the entire team looked back towards the boy who was sitting back like an animal looking up at the sky. His nine tails were pointed towards his mouth, which was wide opened and revealed his sharpened canines. Slowly, a build-up of dark red and light blue particles gathered over his mouth, making a black ball form. After a few moments, the particles made a large ball and than started to condense it. It continued to get smaller and smaller until it was the size of a tennis ball, hovering over the boy's mouth and he reeled his head back as far as he could.

"Oh Shit-Move!" Nagi yelled as he pushed Gateau out of the way and warned Jack and the floaters.

**"GOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!"** The ball shot out of his mouth, the ground under him breaking apart like the ice. The ball soared forward, impacting against the trees and releasing a massive shockwave of power, vaporizing the forest and destroying a section of the tower they were in a few moments ago.

The adults looked on in shock as the tower caught ablaze and fell apart into debris. Nagi smiled nervously, "Damn...this kid likes to play big."

Gateau threw away his cigarette, "Eishun!"

"Hai!" The skilled Japanese man jumped down and pulled out his Yuunagi. The blond animal saw the entrance of a new fighter as his body shook and he howled with an eerie shriek. He dashed forward at the prone swordsman who kept a steady eye and tightened his grip on the hilt of his katana, waiting for the perfect moment. As the boy lunged forward with his claws apart to attack, he pulled his sword out...

"Zanmaken: Ni-No-Tachi!"

A fast strike of Ki came out of the sword, flying at the boy and cutting though his center vertically. The boy's eyes widened in shock as the strange energy around him started to dissipate and fade, leaving only the boy as he fell though the air and landed on the ground, face in the dirt. Unmoving.

Eishun sheathed his sword, looking at the blond boy at his feet in shock. He dropped to his knees and picked the boy up in his arms, looking over him to make sure he wasn't hurt. Looking at him closely, he was much younger then they had anticipated. Barely a little older than his own daughter. "Oh my god...you poor child..."

The rest of the group floated down besides the Shinmei-Ryū practitioner and looked to the kid unconscious in his arms. Nagi wolf whistled in surprise at the napping kid, "Man, I can't believe this kid did...all of this" he waved his hand to the mass destruction around him.

"Do you think he is going to be alright?" Takamichi said as he kneeled down to look at the young boy lightly snoring in the Konoe's arms.

"Now that Eishun has exorcised the demon, I think he should be." Al said as he placed his hands into his opposite sleeves, hiding them.

Arika moved her dress out of the way and kneeled down, running her hands through his spiky hair and down his cheek. "Poor thing. He looks so tired. And so innocent."

"Teehee, hey, check it out Nagi. I think the princess has got herself some baby envy going on. Or hell, she may just like younger men. I can see the drama now, 'Thousand Master loses out to The Unknown Kid, humiliation ensues. The Great Jack Rakan was found for a comment: 'Ha!'' Oh, I love it."

"Fuck off Jack." The Thousand Master said with no amusement in his voice, actually a little pissed off that the young man was getting so much attention from his team. He looked down to see the little boy start to stir in his sleep, grumbling in his sleep. "Great. Who wants to ask him when he wakes up?"

Suddenly the boy let out a pain gasp, his body arching and falling repeatedly as his eyes bounced around in his head. Eishun almost lost hold of him as the kid started to violently spasm. "W-what's wrong with him?"

"He's having a seizure! Keep him still!" Gateau said as he took off his jacket and covered the boy with it, trying to keep him stationary. "Al! Check him!"

"Right!" Al pulled down his hood and kneeled down besides the boy, holding his hands over his body as his hands stared to glow. He felt some strange resistance as he found no real physical injury, but rather a fluctuation of power that was destroying his body. "W-wai-pull up his shirt Eishun!" The Japanese man struggled for a moment before throwing off the jacket and pulling up his shirt.

"What the hell?"

The boy's chest had some strange kind of seal on it, the evidence of the Ki slash from earlier that stopped him was visible from the vertical line going through it. Al sensed a massive recoil of energy being released from the breach in the seal, a strange mixture of Ki and Magic akin to Kankahō. Except more natural.

"T-this boy has a seal! Whatever that was that was attacking us, it was sealed into this boy! And whatever was sealing it, is breaking apart!"

"I-I did this?" Eishun said with horror evident over his entire face.

"His Ki and Magic are flowing out of control and the demon is coming out! If it comes out of him like this, I don't think he'll make it!" Red bubbles started to appear over the stomach as they changed form a fox-like head, trying to escape.

Nagi shielded Arika from the chomping head, "Al, fix the thing!"

"I-I can't! I've never seen a seal like this before! I don't know what to do!" The usually calm and composed was panicking as the child's life signs were fluctuating wildly and there looked to be no hope for him. Eishun almost felt despair clutch him before he looked at the figures around the boy's seal. And something showed on his face.

A sliver of hope.

"Al! I know some of these symbols! They're similar to the Onmyōdō back home! If I guide you through part of it, could you improvise the rest of it?"

"Y-yes, yes I can try! Nagi, Arika-Sama, I need your magic to stabilize the demon! Takamichi-kun, Gateau-San, I need your help to separate the the Ki and Magic! Jack, if the demon breaks out we'll need you to hold a barrier! Okay?"

"Hai!" All of Ala Rubra played their parts, some holding the beast back as Eishun and Albireo yelled out commands. Rakan stood on the sidelines, throwing back stray attacks and ethereal claws. After hours passed by, the sun finally started to poke over the the tree tops and illuminate what was left of the clearing.

Nagi and Arika fell back, the man on his butt and the woman falling under the weight of her on knees buckling. Takamichi nearly passed out as Gateau kneeled down, seat dripping off his face. Al was sweating too, the boy partially moaning and screaming as Eishun continued to hold him still. Rakan still stood on the outside, looking at the kid with an unflinching gaze.

"I-I'm almost...there..." Al moved his hand speed faster, setting up more and more seals to counterattack the sealing in the boy's chest as he let out one last excruciating yell.

Until Al couldn't do anything else as bubbles started to actually grow out a few feet away from the boy, spreading out on the ground. The mages watched in shock as the bubbles cut off from the boy's stomach, causing the child to finally relax and sleep peacefully in Eishun's arms.

The bubbles started to condense and darken, forming into the shape of a fox. Flesh and bone started to generate inside the bubble space and expand into the outlines of the form.

After a moment, a creature was born. It smiled like a maniac, its gums and vicious sharp teeth visible for the entire group. Its tail was waving around in a tranquil yet fierce pace. A deep chuckle ran through its throat as its claws dug into the earth beneath it. **"Hehehehe, finally. Finally! After decades of imprisonment in these filthy meat bags, my time has returned!"**

**"I am free! THE GREAT KYŪBI-SAMA IS FREE ONCE AGAIN! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"** The tailed beast ran off in any direction it could, planning to wreck havoc onto this strange and unsuspecting world as vengeance for his mistreatment.

Before running into a massive shin bone and muscle. The tailed fox fell on his butt, his head spinning before shaking it and looking up. Towering over him was a huge, dark-skinned man with a headband as he smiled down on him. "Yo little guy. What's up?"

**"Son of a bitch."**

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

His head felt like it was being beaten in by an industrial size hammer. His body felt heavier than lead. He couldn't even let out more than a moan as his throat felt like it had been ripped open and massaged with salt. All he could do was wearingly and slowly open his eyelids, revealing his shining blue eyes.

And looking straight into the scarred face of some huge dude with white hair. "Wake up sleepy head~."

"Ah!" Naruto instinctively slapped the face of the man as hard as he could, actually catching the massive man off-guard as he comically fell to his side. Naruto tried to get up but felt a spike of stress go through his body, causing him to gasp.

The group of adults all looked over to the hissing blond boy leaning against the tree with a blanket over his legs. A woman picked up a canteen that was by her feet and jogged over to the young boy. She put her hand behind his head and lifted the can to his mouth, getting him to look over at her through the corner of his eye. "Stay calm. Just take a drink and save your strength."

Naruto blinked at her before taking a deep chug of the cool aqua. He couldn't believe that this was just water because it was possibly the best drink he had ever had in his short life. But that was probably because his throat was dryer than a desert at the moment.

"Feeling better?"

Naruto swallowed the water and looked to her, nodding.

"Good." She said with a stunningly beautiful smile as she looked at the boy in relief. Naruto felt a slight flush run over his cheeks as he had never seen any adult, especially such a lovely woman, look at him so kindly.

Slowly, all the other adults around them started to walk over to the boy with interest in his state.

A Japanese man kneeled down and patted his shoulder softly, "We were really worried about you for a moment there young man. Do you remember what happened before you came here? Do you remember your name?"

"Y-yeah." The boy said with a weak but stable voice, in a strange dialect that they only understood thanks to Eishun teaching them. "I'm Naruto."

"Hello Naruto-kun. My name is Eishun Konoe." The man said with a pleasant smile.

A man with some stubble and a cigarette bent down next to him to look at the lad. "Hello young man, my name is Gateau Kagura Vandenburg." Naruto looked at him blankly as if everything he said went over his head. "Hehe, you can just call me Gateau to save time. And this fine young gentleman is Takamichi Takahata." The young adult smiled and waved at him from his spot to the side.

"H-hello." The normally outgoing boy felt surprisingly meek in front of these people that were going out of their way to talk to him. This felt so much different from all the hostile glares and hateful sneers he received around the village.

"This man behind us is Albireo Imma" he pointed to the man in the long white robe who smiled at him far too kindly for anyone you would meet for the first time. "And this-"

"S'up Kid!" A man with red and black hair said as he pushed everyone else to the side and kneeled down to look at him with a huge smile. "My name is Nagi Springfield! Best to remember that name now and not have to spend days upon days trying to memorize my awesomeness!"

Naruto felt some cold sweat go down his neck at the sudden awkwardness this guy had introduced. "And this pretty face you met earlier is Arika-hime! Felt your heart stop when ya looked at her, right?" Naruto looked to the side, trying to hide his red face in shame as Nagi laughed uncontrollably.

A fist pounded into his cheek and sent the man flying into the trees as everyone just groaned in tired mirth. Arika coughed into her hand and waved her hand to the body at her side. "And this man is Jack Rakan."

"Yo." The man said from his place on the ground.

"Don't mind him."

Naruto felt a little laugh pop out of his mouth at the antics of these people. These people weren't anything like the adults back ho-. Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, how did I get here? Where am I? Where's Konoha?"

The adults looked between each other and couldn't come up with an answer for him

"Naruto-kun, was it?" The man he think was called Gateau asked as he nodded his head. "Do you remember what happened to you before you came here?"

Naruto tilted his head for a moment and thought back to the last thing he remembered. "I-I remember Jii-chan brought me home and I went to bed. Then" he thought back to the sheer pain he went through in his bed. "Everything started to hurt. I couldn't move or breathe and I felt like my blood was on fire."

"Is that everything?"

Naruto thought for a minute before realizing something else that happened in the blur of pain. A moment of simple tranquility. "There was some girl. Some weird little girl who was in this weird, white place where there wasn't anything around. And that kid didn't say anything but some stuff about always being alone in there. Wait, where's that girl?" He tried to stand up but found he still didn't have the strength.

"What girl?"

"This-um-this little kid that was already in that place. She had these" he motioned to his head as he looked like he was pulling out something in his head. "Long twin-tails and-" he looked over to the woman who looked like she was realizing something. "And she had eyes like yours."

The entire group looked between each other as they seemed to slowly come to a conclusion. Arika lowered herself to his eye-level. "Naruto, I think you are very, very far away from home."

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The blond boy was completely stunned. The story he was given was like something he would have heard out of a fairy tale.

Stuff about magical royalty, different worlds, dimensions, demons and mages. As they tried to tell him about how he got here and what had happened, he was completely dumbfounded. He couldn't remember anything about being possessed or attacking these people.

But he understood what they meant when they said that he was worlds apart from his old home.

That much had penetrated the fear induced barrier.

**"Let me go dammit! This is cruel and unusual punishment you damn mortals!"** Naruto was brought out of his stupor and heard the unfamiliar voice that screamed out in uncontainable rage. The men and woman moved and looked over to a weird, small, red-tailed fox that was hanging upside down by a rope tied around the end of his tail. **"Hey kid! Let me go would you? I'll let you be my slave!"**

"W-what is that?"

"That would be the thing that was using you like a personal marionette while he tried to kill us."

**"To be fair, I just went through a very traumatic experience of traveling worlds. Where's my comforting talk? I just wanted to vent some a misplaced anger and it turns out you were the closest living thing for a few hundred miles. If there is anyone to blame, it's yourself. Shame on you."** The fox said while he shook his head in shame at the group.

"Shut it ya little asshole." Rakan said as he swatted the angry fox around like a tether ball, laughing loudly as the demon's protests filled the silence. "Hey, this is actually kind of fu-"

***Shinck***

"AHHHHHH, MY EYES! MY EYES!" The former slave said with an over the top act as he fell to the ground screaming, the fox brandishing its claws out as he slowed down and smiled evily.

**"Hey brat, good to finally be out of that damn cesspool of a ninja village, huh? It smelled far too much like humans for my taste."** Naruto actually felt quite shocked that this thing knew him and where he came from.

"How-how do you know about my village?"

**"Duh dumbass, I've been sealed inside your useless body for five years now. And I've been stuck in that god forsaken dump of a place for almost a century. So yeah, I probably know more about Konoha than your little head could possibly handle."**

"What are you anyway? L-like some weird pet or a parasite or-"

**"You don't know? Okay, let me give you a crash course brat."** The fox stopped swinging and looked at the boy and the other people with a crookedly nasty smile. **"I am the Kyūbi. The great immortal beast that devastated the Elemental Nations. I tear the mountains down and crash the very oceans with just a wave of my tails."**

Naruto looked at the miniature Kitsune in horror and dread. "K-Kyūbi..."

**"Yeah, I was sealed inside you by some of those humans to make sure I didn't wreck havoc on them. Course, that didn't stop them from hating me through you. Spiteful old bastards, weren't they?"** An insane giggle came out of the deep voice of the small creature.

Naruto felt like a claw of ice grasped itself around his little heart. And slowly, he felt like the cold was slowly passing through his body, his eyes widened in horror as everything was starting to make sense.

The reason all of the adults were so angry at him for no reason. Why when he felt so mad at others that he would want to punch them until they beg forgiveness. And why Jii-chan was always avoiding the subject of why people didn't like him.

Naruto looked down at his palms as they slowly started to shake.

It was him. He had the Kyūbi.

"I-I did it. I killed all those people. I-I destroyed the village." Naruto raised his hands and grabbed his face, his eyes fluttering in fear as his mind started to rack up more and more on what was happening. Steadily, tears started to come out of his eyes and soft sobs came out as well.

"I'm a demon."

Kyūbi looked at his effort in pride, a small smile on his face to hide his sheer happiness of hurting the mentality of one of the people who trapped him for life.

"You don't look like any demon I've ever seen before."

Naruto and Kyūbi looked to see Rakan looking at the face of the blond boy while shaking his head. "Nope. No way. Kid, I've seen real demons before and they all looked scary. Or, you know, at least freaky enough that a brat like you would piddle your Depends diapers."

Naruto sniffed and rubbed his tears away, looking at the former gladiator with angry, slightly swollen eyes. "Hey! I'm not a little kid anymore! And I don't wear diapers!"

"Uh-huh, sure. And I bet you don't sleep in your bed with a plushie either, right?" The red head said with a condescending smirk.

"You leave Gama-ch- I'm not a baby!"

"Well, if you want, we can check if you really are a demon." Eishun stood in front of him with a smile as he pulled out his sword. "I can try to cut you and if you get hurt than we know you're a demon."

"W-woah, woah! Not that!" The boy yelled out and tried to back away, only then noticing that he was cornered by a tree. He looked up towards the three men who faces were black and eyes were stark white with white slits for a smiling mouth.

Arika stood between the three sadists and the boy. "Don't mind them Naruto, they have very personal issues that can't be solved with any serious professional help."

"It's true."

"Totally."

"We are lucky we ended up on this side of the sociopath spectrum to be honest." In fact, all of the Ala Rubra men started to mumble between each other while nodding their heads. Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Anyway kid, if you want an honest opinion from some guys who actually have faced the worst kinds of demons. You ain't one of them," Nagi threw a thumb over his shoulder. "That little bastard is."

**"I'm gonna fuck your face."**

"I'm just looking at this little kid. Now are you sure you aren't a baby because you look like you're crying like one?" Nagi chuckled a little at the shot he took at the young child. And he even kept that smile on as the water canteen bounced off his head like a ball.

"You suck a whole lot old man."

**"Look, it's great that all of you are happy and cheerful with your little circle jerk going on over there, but can you let me go now. I got things I want to do. Eat. Sleep. Destroy. Unveil chaos like none have experienced in this world before. The usual.**" Naruto glared at the fox as he droned on about the destruction he wanted to cause across the world.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kyūbi-San, but I'm afraid you may not be able to wreck chaos on the world as soon as you thought" the robed man said with a calm level voice.

**"What? What do you mean? What are you talking about Predator-San?"**

"When I had to extract your body from Naruto-kun's here, I may have mucked up your seal and destroyed most of the power you had inside of you." He said with his continually sickening smile of innocence, a total contrast to the look of shock and horror plastered on the demon's face. "And I'm guessing that is why you only have the one tail instead of the nine you were using earlier."

The Kyūbi felt its eye twitching as he just hung there, jaw slacked. **"What-what did you do to my chakra?"**

"We had to separate the contents of both of your 'chakra' because the Ki and Magic components were going wild and could have ripped poor Naruto-kun into pieces. So his chakra can now be separated into magic and Ki."

**"What! No! No, you know what! Fine! Screw it! I'll stay like this if I have to! Just let me go and I'll be on my way!"**

"Kyūbi-San, I don't think you will be able to access the chakra you had before until Naruto-kun here can level himself up." Albireo walked over and kneeled down, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder and looking towards the hanging fox, Naruto actually kind of uncomfortable around the man. "If you want to be your old self, you're going to have to put your faith in him."

**"... Kill me. Save me the time and end it now..."** The deep voiced fox said as he lost all hope and cheer in his voice.

"We can't do that either. You two are still connected on a critical level. You may not be in the same body anymore but you still share the bond. If he grows strong, you will too. And if he dies, you die too."

**"This...this is hell, pure hell.**" He shook his head tiredly, not believing the consequences of what had happened to bring his great status of Demon Beast to Chibi-Fox in a snare. **"So now what? Since I'm going to be stuck with the kid for the rest of my damn existence, we're going to have to do something about getting back to our world."**

"We can't do anything about getting you back home cause we don't know how to." Takamichi said. "If you were brought here by the Princess, then the Princess may be the only one who can send you back...and even then there is a very rare chance of that happening."

"Princess...? Wait, do you mean the weird girl I saw before?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head. The group all nodded their heads. "Where is she?"

Nagi started to pick up his bag and put his cloak back on over his shoulder. "She was kidnapped and we've got to go and bring her back. Come on, we'll drop these two off at the Tomboy's castle and then we'll-"

"Take me with you!"

Nagi froze from picking up his stuff with a stunned look as he look over his shoulder at the boy as he tried to lift himself up on his feet. With a slack-jaw expression, he squeaked "Eh?"

"I've got to help that girl! I already made a promise! So please bring me along!" Naruto yelled out as he held himself up on shaky legs by holding the tree for support. Nagi felt his jaw fall in being demanded by a kid.

He closed it and glared at the boy, "No way! You are not coming with us kid! I already made a promise with her that I would show her Japan and Wales and stuff when I saved her! So be a good brat, stuff it and go play with your toes in the corner or something!"

"Take me with you!"

"No chance!"

"Awwww, come on Nagi, don't be like that." Arika kneeled down and hugged Naruto tightly, making it pretty damn hard to argue his point when she was hugging a kid so dearly while sending him one of her extremely rare smiles. "Do you have to be so mean to a little kid? Please~ Nagi~..."

Damn Arika! Why did she have to look at him like that?

Naruto wanted to argue his point about not being little, but he was sort flabbergasted about being cuddled up like a teddy by this lady.

"Yeah and the little foxy wants the same thing." Rakan started to mimic Arika's cutesy method by cuddling up to the hanging fox. "Look at him~. Please~ Na-"

***Chomp***

"AHHHH, MY CHEEK MEAT!" Rakan tried to shake the jagged bite off of his face as the fox growled loudly in anger.

Nagi ignored the screams of one of his best friends as he looked around at the rest of his comrades. They were all giving him a cheeky smirk as they waited for the answer he was going to give to his darling wife. The strongest Mage alive palmed his face and made a loud muffled yell.

"Fine. Whatever. But you guys are going to have to feed and walk him. And make sure that you change him." He threw his pack over his shoulder. "Come on Whiskers, we're moving."

"It's not Whiskers, my name is Naruto!"

"Right. Fishcake. Much better." Nagi couldn't believe this was happening.

Arika, Gateau and Al were all approaching the kid with kind smiles and encouraging talks. Rakan, Takamichi and Eishun were finding it sort of a challenge to cut the bellowing, cursing animal that was taking every chance he could to cut the eyes out of the men that were flinching back from his swipes.

Damn. This was going to be one serious pain in the ass.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

**_Done_**

**_I have always wanted to do a crossover fic of Naruto/Negima. Anyway I could. Because these were some of the very first fanfictions I ever read on this site. And I've read most of them. I love Negima. And I love almost all of the interpretations I find about it._**

**_Yeah._**

**_Anyway, this is a harem series. Every version has harem qualities. So expect a harem._**

**_Probably won't be a big one, like more than half the class. Cause if you widen the number of girls that have a romantic interest in the main character, than you have to give less characterization for each one. And then you will make a bunch of brilliant, vivid characters just seem like slutty middle schoolers who jump the first new piece of meat that comes into their peripheral._**

**_And I do not want that. Not in the least._**

**_So yeah, have some ideas for girls, probably can guess the first one just from this chapter. You can leave comments on your suggestions of candidates and I will see if they can do me any good with ideas. So please support this because I am really going to get into this series._**

**_ReadxReview_**

**_Thank You and Bye_**


	2. Even When The Heroes Are Gone

The Knight Of Mahora Academy

Period 2: Even When The Heroes are Gone...

I knew it! Even after all this time, Negima is still beloved! (Falls on knees and screams triumphantly!)

Alright, so first I want to thank everyone for giving me their support for this idea. I truly want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I am still accepting any suggestions for potential love interests. But I do have a few I think I really want to do.

P.S. I got hit by a surprisingly effective emotion bomb earlier this week. I was re-reading Negima to get back into the funk when I reached chapter 297. Now even those of us that are pretty desensitized to touchy feely emotions felt happy for Negi. So what do you know, the Futurama episode 'Game of Tones' was ending at that moment and I was hit with that hammer of feels while seeing Negi with his parents. And I wept .

Now that we are done with my feel-corner of the day...

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The small group looked over the tower from their vantage point atop the valley cliff. It was large, wide, and filled with the life of wild forest. And at the center of the valley was a mighty, ancient castle that dwarfed the towers adjacent to it.

The short boy walked to the edge of the cliff and kept one of his hands deep in his pocket while the other rested at his side. His dull, grey eyes peering out from underneath his shaggy white hair. "Are you certain that they will be coming here? I believe you told me that this location was far more remote and undetectable compared to their other bases, wasn't it?"

"Yes," the tall man covered by the long black cloak and porcelain mask said in a soothing yet low voice. "This base of operations is supposed to be undetectable by most sensors and radars available. But The Thousand Master and Ala Rubra are not to be considered standard mages... Not by a long shot, sadly." The Shadow Mage just shook his head disappointedly as he was reminded by all the damages and failures they had suffered at the hands of the heroic team.

"Not used to seeing Dynamis all down in the dumps. It's kind of weird, isn't it Septendecim?" The short, dark-skinned girl in a black dress said to the much taller woman standing besides her.

The woman with her face covered by her hair and two long horns protruding down from her head stood there quietly. "..."

"Don't ignore me." Nii said with a slightly miffed tone. She never got an answer from this lady, no matter what she did.

What a bitch.

"We only need to keep them away from the Twilight Princess long enough for the group to finish their ritual and transport to the next safe location. Then we shall return to the Graveyard and take the Twilight Princess along with us." The apprentice to the First Great Mage turned around and addressed the foremost leading puppet. "Tertium, since your...'disagreement' with Secundum, you shall be the point leader for this defense."

"Of course, Dynamis-Sama." The Averruncus bowed slightly to his handler.

"Will Rakan be there?" The little girl said as her skin started to emit some light flames. "If he is, I call dibs. Got it guys! Dibs." A small shadow emerged from behind Nii and started to smack her upside the head. The chibi Atur started to whine and try to swat the hand away but it continued to beat her head in.

"That's enough from you Nii. We must prepare ourselves for the battle." Dynamis walked down the path and towards the valley as the other members of Cosmo Entelecheia followed suit. Nii showing some expression of excitement at the aspect of finally ending the life of the man that had killed her earlier incarnation. And Septendecim showing almost zero outward change as she marched in step with them.

Tertium stayed in place as he looked out at the flashing lights coming from the castle. He knew what was going to happen today. He could tell. Even though he was supposed to be composed and ready for all new possibilities to present themselves, he already knew that he was going to meet him again.

The Thousand Master. Nagi Springfield.

It was always a challenge when he had to face that man. He always told him the true inevitability of what was going to happen. The end of days. The loss of lives. That no matter how much he fought or how many times he kept standing back up, the end result was always going to be the same.

That man's response...

He would start yelling about not underestimating what people are apparently capable of doing. And then he would punch him.

Not quite a master of the debates that man.

But something about how that man never seemed to stop his meddling in their affairs or how he always seemed to find a way to put himself in the thick of it...it was interesting.

Foolish. Stupidly moronic and unavoidable.

But interesting.

He knew he was going to face that man again. Call it intuition. Or destiny. Or... Fate

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Gateau stood at the opening to the valley forest with the luxurious, massive castle peeking out from over the tree tops. Surrounding the entire structure were hundreds upon hundreds of skilled mages and soldiers that worked alongside the cult group. Far more than that tower they attempted to infiltrate last year.

The dandy man lit the cigarette in his mouth as he surveyed the surrounding area. Knights. Mages. Fierce God Soldiers. Demons and assorted baddies. Gateau took a long drag on his tobacco baby as he figured what all this meant.

This was probably their last major base.

He let the smoke out as he smiled lightly. "Looks like they are really pulling out all the stops they can to keep us out. The others will feel very appreciated at this gesture."

"Sensei, should we be so happy that our enemies are doing everything they can to kill us? That is usually cause for concern." Takamichi said with a nervous chuckle.

"Come now Takamichi, you need to learn to appreciate the little things in life. In our line of work, take everything you find and experience as a positive matter." Vandenburg laughed as he wrapped his arm around his growing apprentice's shoulder. "But if you want a professional opinion on enjoying life as much as you can, why not ask our local destructive buddy over here...right Kyūbi-San?"

The small, two-tailed fox about a yard away from the two of them just grumbled as he tried to resume his nap on the cliff. **"Can you please stay quiet? For even a minute? This is the first time I've gotten any space between the brat and those other pains in the ass and I would like a moment of rest."**

"Don't you usually try to sleep most of the day anyway, Kyūbi-San?"

**"There's a difference between falling asleep in peace and willingly smashing your head into the wall to drown out the sounds of multiple idiots arguing between each other."** The deep voiced mini-beast said as he laid on his back and stretched himself out like a cat on the porch. The two Kankahō practitioners felt some sweat go down their backs at the state the once fearsome demon was now in.

"Well...Kyūbi-San...You need to understand that their rough-housing is their way of showing friendship and camaraderie between the group. And even after all this time, they still all consider each other one big-"

**"Stuff it Kagura. You and Bakamichi here get to have the quieter side of life from this damn reject brigade. You two go to the fancy hotels, checking out sources for information on possible locations and enjoying quiet evenings by a fireplace with a smoke in hand. Do you know what I get?"**

Gateau and Takamichi slowly looked between each other and then looked to the fox as they both shook their heads.

**"I get to listen to the brat argue constantly with those two man-babies! Bitch about this! Bitch about that! Oh no, this is too tough! Oh no, this is too scary! For god sake, don't throw me into the pit of man-eating fish! Do you two remember when we were all together and had that poker tournament?"** The two men nodded their heads shamefully, remembering the time that some of the strongest mages and fighters in history were cleaned out by a six-year old beginner. **"Yeah, they're still fighting about that one. Sad part is that the kid wins the arguments sometimes. Also, that hooded-guy? Albireo? Yeah, I thought I was messed up."**

**"And those idiots Jack and Nagi never stop blowing shit up in a vain attempt to teach him how to use his new powers. I've heard that kid scream in horror more times than I have in killing people. And I've done my fair share of that. When we stay in the Magical World, Rakan never stops talking about how great he is and doesn't stop reminding the punk about how much this is all going to cost him when he grows up. And when we are back on Earth, I go thinking that this is a chance for some peace and quiet. When we are over in Japan, the kid is pre-occupied by those picture books that Eishun is so willing to send over. Except the loving couple always seems to be arguing about something. And by argue, I mean that the woman starts beating the man to a bloody pulp. And, of course, when the kid has finally fallen asleep, I get to stay up all night listening as those two start 'talking things out' all over the kitchen, bathroom and living room couch. So Gateau, when I say let me sleep, I mean Let. Me. Sleep. Okay?"**

The normally calm and collected men looked at the twin-tailed fox in absolute shell-shocked horror. They both nodded their heads and stood up, walking away silently to the edge of the cliff as the tailed beast took this opportunity to rest his eyes, his tails mindlessly swaying in peace.

The master and student stood there in complete and awkward filled silence as they looked out over the battle-field. The younger man coughed into his hand and looked off to the side. "Well...um...he sure paints an image, huh?"

"That he does Takamichi... That he does." Gateau lifted the binoculars up and got a closer view of the castle. He saw the cult members start to lock down the door and send their army to guard the entire front section of the forest. He lowered them and looked over to his apprentice. "Show time."

Takahata nodded his head and jogged over to the dozing fox. "Kyūbi-San-"

**"I swear kid, talk to me again and I shall tell you word for word Albireo's book about 69ing with yourself. Believe me, I can. That shit sticks with you."**

"We need a relay...please."

The fox opened up one eye and looked at the young man. He sighed very tiredly as he lifted his head and concentrated on the connection with the kid.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The former Queen of Calamity stood there tiredly as she shook her head in disappointment. "Do we really have to argue about this now? Right before an almost literal war?"

"Not now Arika! This is a matter that we've got to decide now!" The Thousand Master yelled with determination and anger almost dripping off his voice. "Dammit Jack! I told you that I'll let you take care of all the guards while I go grab the Lil'Princess! It's the fastest way!"

"And I told you moron! That the best choice would be that I run in, destroy everything, grab the kid and make my way out in the most dramatic fashion I can think of! Save us the media trouble and just have the cameras and the fan girls waiting outside the building!" The God of the Gladiators yelled as he bashed his forehead against The Strongest Mage in History. The two of them keeping sparks between their eyes in righteous fury.

"Hey! HEY! Listen!" The towering mercenary and shorter wizard looked down at the young boy who came up to Nagi's waist. A young blond boy with blue eyes and whiskered cheeks was looking up at them furiously as he yelled to get their attention. He was wearing a blue shirt and black pants, with the same bad spiral drawn headband he arrived with a year ago tied around his head. Around his waist was a sheathe with a short blade inside of it. "The pincer idea with a charge was my idea in the first place! I should be the one to go and save that girl!"

The two mighty rivals looked between each other, giving it a moment of serious contemplation. Before they both laughed their asses off and had to use each other as support to not fall on their butts. Naruto fumed, "I'M SERIOUS!"

"And we think that is adorable that you think that Naruto. But the grown-ups are talking." Nagi said with a laugh even as he started to ruffle the boy's hair. "So yeah anyway-"

"I don't make nearly as much noise as you two! And while you guys are blowing everything up, I'll run in and grab her! I can do it!" Naruto tried to argue before he was lifted up by his short collar and held out in front of one of his teachers.

"Haha, he thinks he's people! So cute~!" Rakan started to poke the boy's cheek as Naruto visibly started to shake, gritting his teeth in anger at this treatment.

He sent some Ki to his feet and smashed it against Rakan's chin, catching him in surprise as the attack exploded and he let the boy go and fell on his back. Naruto landed on his feet and clutched his stomach as he laughed at his mentor. "Ahahahaha, how'd you like that Raka-Ji? Blindsided, bitch!"

Eishun looked up from the cooking pot he was stirring and at the boy in worry. "Naruto-kun, you shouldn't swear like that. You'll catch that as a horrible habit."

"Shut the fuck up Eishun he's expressing himself." Nagi said as he joined in with Naruto and pointed at the downed man and bellowed loudly. The two of them were having so much fun they didn't notice the man come back up to his feet like a zombie as smoke poured out of his mouth. The blond and red-head looked at the towering titan in horror as they ran away, keeping only about a foot of space from them and Rakan's extended chokers.

"Well no surprise there. That's what we get for letting him stay with Jack and Nagi whenever we aren't all together." Al said as he closed the book in his hand and picked up his bowl to fill it with stew. Arika just sighed in defeat as she threw back her skirt and sat on the log besides Eishun.

"We leave him with Jack or when he comes with Nagi and I, we only hope that he is learning something for the best. But he still always has Kyūbi-San by his side and that's a gamble. Plus the most educated experiences he gets are when Gateau and Takamichi come to visit as well. The manga you send him are the best protection he gets against their idiocy Eishun." The swordsman chuckled lightly and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "And Al..." She and Eishun looked towards the man in the robe who was smiling patiently. "We try to keep him away from the books you send."

"That's expected. But if you ever did let him see, he'll be quite the hit when he grows up."

"Or so horribly repressed and emotionally stunted he'll never be able to function in normal society." Eishun said offhandedly as he poured stew into Arika's and Al's bowl.

"That too."

"Nagi! You have to sacrifice yourself! It's the only way!"

"Why me kid? I'm the stronger one! I should be the one to live!"

"Yes but I've got far more to live for!"

"Screw you brat!" Nagi and Naruto both looked shocked when they felt two massive hands grab the back of their shirts. Rakan lifted them off their feet and started to slowly make a deep chuckle that would have made lesser men soil themselves.

"How about if I just save you two the time and kill you both!" Naruto flailed around in an attempt to escape as Nagi decided to take an alternative route by trying to fight back. So before he was attacked, Rakan smirked and raised them far over his head.

"Rakan's Moron Go Round!" The dark-skinned man started to spin at incredible speeds, turning into a miniature brown and blond tornado with some yellow and red highlights at the edge of it. The two captured fools started to yell, their screams overlapping as they rotated dozens of times in an instant. As all the colors started to merge into one big blur, Rakan chose that moment to let go of his hold and throw them off at 100MPH towards the other half of Ala Rubra.

Arika stood up and softly caught Naruto in her arms, holding him close to make sure he didn't get hurt. The boy looked up at her with dizzy eyes and tried to thank her but couldn't find his voice and just nuzzled into her for a safe keeping. Arika looked down at him and smiled.

Nagi on the other hand went face first into the pot of stew, spilling it everywhere and covering himself and Eishun in the food stuff. Al just used a small shield of Gravity to keep himself clean.

Nagi jumped up with blood-shot eyes. "AHHHHHH! IT BURNS! THE MEATY GOODNESS BURNS!" The Thousand Master yelled as he flailed around on the floor like a dying trout. Rakan pointed at him and mocked his earlier hyena laughter.

"How's that Springfield? Ahahahahahahaha!"

"...Jack...?" The gladiator froze in shock at the drawn out and threatening tone in the voice that said his name.

The young boy, Queen of Calamity, perverted eggplant and even the severely burned Thousand Master all took a step back (in Nagi's case, rolled away in the dirt), leaving Jack Rakan in an almost direct line towards the Shinmei-Ryū swordsman covered in carrots and potato stew. "Um...Eishun...I swear I didn't-"

"Did. You. Waste. Food? **AGAIN!**" Rakan stormed off, running through the trees as Eishun started to swing his Yuunagi around madly. Naruto watched in sheer amazement at the feat of the supposedly-unimpressive man chasing around the narcissistic hero like a dog who soiled the bed. Or how Arika chased around Kyūbi when he decided to rip up the couches for the sake of ripping up couches.

"Is Eishun-San always this stingy about how we eat?" Naruto said as he scooped out some stew that was still in the pot and started to eat it out of a bowl. Arika and Albireo sat on the log alongside him as they watched Rakan run for his life.

"Eishun has always had this fixation with not wasting food. I believe he once told me it had something to do with the fact that when he was younger, he was always told to eat up everything on his plate. There was only one time he didn't finish his food on the count of he had a very serious stomach ache and he couldn't eat. So his oldest sister made him sit outside their house for several days, train non-stop for an entire week and finally forced him to fight an extremely powerful demon all by himself. Without letting him eat anything the whole time. Needless to say, I believe the principle of 'waste not, want not' did not pass by him."

"W-wow..." Naruto looked at Al in horror at the idea of that story.

"Makes you think about what is going to happen to his daughter, huh?" Arika joked with her old colleague as he chuckled lightly.

Naruto looked between the two adults and smiled with a little melancholy. The entire group was never together as much as this.

Nagi and Arika-San usually lived back on Earth, moving around the world.

Raka-Ji stayed here in Mundus Magicus, living it up anyway he wanted to.

Takamichi and Gateau-San would sometimes visit him whenever he stayed over at the Springfield's house, but they always had to get going again soon after.

Eishun-San had to stay in Japan most of the time because of work and his daughter. But he still always sent him one of those cool manga from Japan, which Naruto liked the most out of all the places he went. It was the most similar to his old town and it treated Ninjas as a cultural phenomenon. Of course they were probably weaker and less impressive than the ones back home, but it was good to know they were still interesting in this world.

And Al-Jiji...he was, off. Doing something. He didn't want to know what though.

But the young boy liked these moments the most out of his whole experience. Being with these people, joking around and having more fun than he had ever had before. Hell, even Kyūbi wasn't as much of a sour puss as he was last year. He found out that when you aren't a demon beast towering over an entire nation but a normal sized fox and are able to party with people like this, even he could enjoy himself. Even though the next day he would say that it was still just a pain in the ass.

Which made Naruto worry about what was going to happen next. If they were able to save this girl and get the foreign boy to her before it was too late, then it was possible that he could would be able to return to Konoha before the day was up. And if you had asked him that question a year ago he wouldn't even need a second to respond yes.

But now...

If he and Kyūbi returned home, what was going to happen to them? They would probably capture and try to use or kill the fox before he could escape. And even with him out, Naruto would probably still be treated like a freak by those people. He wanted to see Jii-chan again, sure. But at the very idea of leaving this place...

Leaving these people that had accepted him so eagerly even when they didn't know him. His first real family.

Naruto felt a sudden pull in the back of his mind, sensing the open connection Kyūbi was setting up from his position. The whiskered boy closed his eyes and concentrated on the link.

It was a new ability that he and the Nine-tails discovered over the past few months. When one of them concentrated on the former seal they once shared, the other would feel a pull and would be able to connect with him. And when that happened, anything one of them sees or hears is instantly transmitted to the other. It only worked if they both concentrated, so if one of them didn't want the connection to work, it didn't. But when they did, like in this situation, they had a real-time, uninterrupted long-distance network system.

He opened his eyes back up and saw what Kyūbi was looking at. He saw several huge white monsters, flying mages and hundreds of knights in armor start to pour out through the forest. Kyūbi looked up and saw Gateau giving him the signal to start their advance forward.

Naruto closed his eyes and cut off the connection. He slowly opened them up and looked down at his bowl of stew in worry. This was it. He swallowed a lump before steeling his resolve and looking up at all of the present Ala Rubra members.

"It's time."

All the ruckus, chasing and laughter ended as they looked at the boy who was doing his best to appear fearless. Eishun sheathed his sword and reached down to give Rakan a hand up. Al stood and pulled his hood up, hiding his features from the world. Arika stood up and tightened the sword at her side, walking forward as Ala Rubra followed in step.

"Let's go."

And then...they were gone.

...

Rakan walked back into the scene and kneeled down. He picked Nagi up by his collar and dragged the man out of the forest. "Come on hero. It's your time to shine."

"T-the broth! I-it's seeping in."

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The mages and knights were spanned and guarding across the entire span of the valley forest. The mages were flying on wands, readying themselves for an attack from every direction. The Fierce God Soldiers made a perimeter around the castle and were standing in place. And the knights were scouring the trees and ground as they left no opening. With the orders to attack with lethal force anyone that came in the line of fire.

One of the knights looked off further into the forest and saw a shadow moving across the ground. His eyes widened from under his helmet and he grabbed his weapon, causing the other knights to fall into stance as well. "Who goes there?"

The shadow continued to scurry around through the bushes. Moving closer and closer.

"We are warning you! We will open fire if you do not show yourself!"

The bushes rattled more and more as the figure came closer to the armed men. The knights all concentrated the point of attack towards the last bush before it was open for all to see. Underneath their suits they were shaking, not prepared for a fight with the legendary Ala Rubra. Finally, from out of the bush...

A small, red fox with two wagging tails walked out slowly towards the men. It sat down on its butt and yawned tiredly before scratching its ears. The men all looked down in shock as the fox stopped its scratching and looked up at the men pointing weapons at it with a tilt of his furry head.

"Oh thank goodness." All of the knights lowered their weapons and exhaled long breathes of relief.

"I thought we were screwed."

"Could you imagine if Jack Rakan or the Thousand Master were the ones sneaking through the bushes?" Some of the knights chuckled while others cringed at the idea of battling men of that calibre right at the start.

"I believe Rakan would probably just blow everything up with a swing of his sword and start the battle."

"Y-yeah but even Jack Rakan can't handle forces as powerful and numerous as this...r-right?" One of the men said with his voice quivering and uncertain.

"Yeah but I heard that the Thousand Master knows over one hundred spells and illusions that could let him pass through here without anyone knowing it!"

**"Pfft-"**

The knights all looked between each other when they heard the sound of a deep voice stifling a laugh.

"Well, what should we do with this little guy?" One of the men said as he pointed down towards the fox whose tails were still wagging.

"I say we forget it. It's not worth the time."

"I think we should let him out. This is going to be a battlefield soon and he'll be killed if we don't lead him somewhere safe."

**"I say we bend over and prep ourselves for the severe ass-kicking we are about to receive."**

"Okay, who's the smart-ass?" All of the knights looked between each other for the owner of the gruff voice that had suggested defeat.

Before all together, they looked down towards the fox that was shooting off a wide, toothy grin with his eyebrows going up and down. Before he opened his mouth and a small black orb formed in an instant.

***Boom***

A section of the forest went up in explosive fumes as the flying mages all looked towards that quadrant in shock. Suddenly, the people on their wands felt a heavy force start to push them down towards the dirt. A man in a white robe was flying through the sky, throwing black orbs in the directions of any of his enemies. Each one of Al's orb increased the gravity it touched by several fold, completely incapacitating them.

The knights on the ground started to disperse, heading in the direction of the burning trees. When a man surrounded in a massive fluctuation of Magic and Ki fell down from out of the sky, glaring at the men in anger. Before any of them could react to attack, Gateau's Iaiken blew through them and leveled the trees around them.

Eishun ran like a bullet train close to the ground, Yuunagi out to the side as his eyes flared in a cool fire. His sword was charged with electrical power as he charged forward, "Kyokudai Raimeiken!" All the mages and knights on the ground were instantly swept up in an electrical explosion that sent them flying. Eishun flipped through the air and used a tree as a jump post, shattering it in the process as he flew towards another group of knights.

"Zantetsusen!" The armors were instantly reduced to scraps as the men fell over unconscious. Eishun and Gateau jumped around, passing each other several times as they completely decimated the army sent to stop them. They each finished off another squadron, dodging magical spells of varying power as they jumped back and pressed their backs together.

Suddenly, from out of the foliage, a red blur sped through the cloaked and armored men, making them fly back screaming with deep claw marks across their clothes. The Ala Rubra gentlemen watched as the supposedly handicapped Nine-Tails shredded through the armor and fired several quick energy blasts in a moment. Charging through the forest and defeating all that stood in front of him like a storm of blades.

**"AHAHAHA! WHAT'S WRONG HUMANS? I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING THIS PLACE! C'MON! PUT UP A FIGHT! MAKE THIS FUN FOR ME!"** The small animal cackled with a maniacal voice as the armored men started to run away from the psychotic fox that slashed through their protective suits like hot butter.

Eishun and Gateau looked at the scene with a nervous chuckle and a bead of sweat down their necks. "E-ehehe, and he says that he isn't even close to as bad as he was back home?"

"Makes you worry about what will happen when Naruto-kun grows up, huh?" Both men nodded before continuing in their battle across the valley.

Several immense explosions battered the woods as two figures started to sail through the air. One of them was jumping up into the clouds, creating a sword as large as the castle as he threw it into the ground eagerly. "Zan-Kan-Ken!"' Rakan threw the sword through the trees, sending dozens of people flying through the air from the shockwave.

Haha. The Dynamic Entrance #36 was perfect for this situation.

Rakan dispersed the massive blade and in his hands appeared a large double-sided sword and a huge cleaver. He fell back towards the the forest as his impact made a huge trench in the ground. As he did, the double-edged blade swung over his head like a propeller and the cleaver slashed through anything in his way, Jack flying around like a

spinning top as he left no opening. "Come on Nagi! Join the party!"

The Fierce God Soldiers started to stomp towards the Hellian man as he jumped up them like a stepping stone.

Nagi flew down from the clouds, sailing on his wand like a board as he closed in on the towering white soldiers. He jumped back and kicked the wand into his hand, collecting an enormous amount of Lightning Magic into its tip and spun it around, aiming at the Fierce God.

"Man Man Terro Terro! Κενότητος ἀστράπσατω δὲ τεμέτω! Δίος τύκος!" A wide spread axe of electricity emitted from Nagi's wand and basted through the chest of the white creature. It fell backwards as he turned in the air and aimed his hand towards another soldier coming his way.

"Septingenti Septuaginta Trium Spiritus Lucis! Sagitta Magica Series Lucis!" An immense flurry of arrows of light shined through the setting sky like the sun as they all impacted and exploded against the soldier's chest, downing him in one shot. The immature expert Mage fist pumped and headed to the next enemy.

Rakan, Nagi, Eishun and Gateau jumped through the air, attacking every flying enemy and fighter they saw. Albireo flew in the sky, stopping the movements of his enemies as Kyūbi ran through the forest attacking anyone he saw.

And running around the castle and heading towards another entrance to the building; Naruto, Arika and Takamichi were fighting their way through numerous fighters.

Arika easily lead the three man team. Effortlessly, she used her Royal Magic to swat every evil doer with such amazing grace and elegance you couldn't tell she was of royal stature.

Takamichi tensed up at the sheer volume of soldiers surrounding the three of them. And the young adult thought that at the moment, he might as well try. He turned in place and put his hands in his pockets.

He adjusted himself so that he was slightly slouched over and aimed for the helmets of the charging soldiers.

"Iaiken!"

He pulled out his hands and punched faster than any of the charging assailants could react to. His fists' pressure soared out and impacted against the armored plates, knocking the knights out and sending them falling into the dirt. Takamichi kept this up against several groups of them as his face continued to become more and more distorted in pain.

As the last of them fell down, he pulled out his bruised, bloody knuckled hands and attempted to soothe them. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. That hurts way worse than I thought it was going to. Note to self: learn the Kankahō already!"

"Michi! That was so cool!" Naruto said as he was jumping back and dodging the swipes of the the swords around him. "You have to teach me that! I want to join you when Gateau-San gives his next lesson!"

"Not! The! Time! Naruto-kun!" Takamichi said as he dodged more attacks and punched with impossibly fast punches. Naruto ducked under a wide arc swing and ran up the spear that had imbedded itself in the ground near his chest. He jumped off the end and started to jump between the branches and trees to bring him up high. And after he passed the top, he careened back down towards a knight that was looking up at him.

He pulled back and covered his fist in Ki that burst into flame. "Exploding Pulse Strike!" He punched the knight in the face and a large explosion erupted from the impact. Naruto jumped out of the smoke and concentrated his magic on the ring that he had received as a birthday present from Arika and Nagi.

"Irtar Peseir Matre Akqur! Unus Fulgor Concidens Noctem, in Mea Manu Ens Inimicum Edat! Fulguratio Albicans!" A stream of white lightning emitted from his palm and blew a dozen flying mages off of their brooms.

Naruto pulled out his short sword and parried several attacks as he followed Arika and Takamichi around the castle. The heterochromic beauty looked back to the younger men following her, "We need to get in their as soon as possible! The others will hold them off long enough for us to grab her and make an escape."

"Let's go then!" Naruto made a dash for the castle but was cut off by a blast of Takamichi's fist against the ground near his feet.

"We need a plan to make our way up!" Takamichi yelled as he continued to use Iaiken. "There are bound to be tougher guards protecting the ritual space."

"Why can't we just get in there and save her! We're strong enough!"

"We can't just charge forward at everything that stands in our way Naruto-kun!"

"Well we can't just argue and complain about this until the sun sets!"

"Boys-" Arika failed to interject.

"You're not strong enough to do this alone!"

"I bet I'm stronger than you! I can do this!

"Boys-"

"I won't let you!"

"Dammit let me-"

"BOYS!" Takamichi and Naruto looked away from each other and towards Arika who was standing still. She was looking around the area worryingly as she noticed something different. "Takamichi, you said that you and Gateau saw over three thousand members of the army spread around the forest right?"

Takamichi and Naruto looked between each other with a raised eyebrow before looking back to the former queen. "Yes? Why?"

"Because I know we are strong. And that these idiots would probably run through numbers like that with a simple wave of their hands. But," she turned around and looked to them with a stern and worried face. "We are nowhere close to beating even a thousand of them. So...where did they all go?"

Naruto's and Takamichi's eyes widened in surprise as they suddenly looked around them. As she said, even the men that they had already knocked unconscious, there was no one else in sight. And there was not a sound on the battlefield.

Everything was silent.

Takamichi slowly turned around as Naruto gripped his short blade even tighter. Arika furrowed her eyes as the other members of Ala Rubra noticed that something was off. "We're being watched."

"Aquari Eterna Dead Sea... Veniant Spiritus Glaciales Obscurantes! Cum Obscuratione Flet Tempestas Nivalis. Nivis Tempestas Obscurans." Arika and Takamichi looked up in shock as a spiraling tornado of black wind and ice was descending upon them.

Before Naruto could turn around to see the attack, Takamichi dipped down and grabbed the boy. They all jumped back as the Ice and Darkness spell destroyed the ground and sent up a shockwave of freezing cold air. The Rubra team skidded on the ground as they took a breath of cold air.

A figure slowly started to settle on the top of one of the trees. Arika looked up and mashed her teeth. Naruto and Takamichi looked up as well to see a woman in a long skirt and open-chested attire look down at them, her long green hair covering her face completely. Naruto gulped in unexplained fear. Feeling a sense of complete overwhelming power coming from this new woman.

Arika took a deep breath. "Damn."

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Gateau, Eishun, Al and Kyūbi were surrounded at all ends by more and more legions of black creatures emerging from the shadows. Kyūbi clicked his teeth together as he looked around at the new enemies. **"What the hell happened? Where did all the guys in suits go?"**

"They were transported away from here. And now we have to deal we these things again." Eishun said as he gripped his sword with both hands.

**"Again? What, you know these things?"**

"We've tangled with them before, on some occasions." Gateau said with a little chuckle.

"About everyday during the war to be more precise." Al interjected as he looked around for the summoner. And on the top of the cliff was the man himself, chanting a long incantation as a large magical circle appeared behind him.

And from that spell, a gargantuan monster emerged from the earth. Hundreds of black tentacles flailing around with almost no control, with an open rib-cage and four horns protruding around the face. Everyone still in the canyon looked up at the monster in shock. And then it screamed with such power and ferocity that the shrill, ear-piercing screech could be heard from miles around. Everyone covered their ears as to protect themselves from the sonic voice breaking their eardrums.

**"What the fuck is that?!"**

Rakan looked up at the monster with a nervous and slightly uneasy chuckle. "Damn. Didn't think they would come all the way out here for this." Raman extended his hand and his pactio dislodged itself from the ground and reformed into a large broadsword he hefted over his shoulder. "Guess I'll try and take this big fella whil-"

"Scatentibus Fauillae!" The gladiator felt a warm air over his head as he lunged to the side and dodged a dozen white hot balls of fire exploding the area he once stood in. He looked up to see a little dark-skinned girl flying at him with her limbs covered in flames. "Rakan! It ends today!" She screamed with an almost maniacal shriek.

"Dammit not you again! Do you ever learn?" The two started to trade blows as the pressure and flames from their shared attacks blew apart their surroundings.

Naruto watched from a distance as a swarm of black monsters made their way around the trees and towards anyone they could find. Which in this case, were the team of three that was currently confronting the fur cladded woman that had thrown a powerful ice attack at their faces.

"W-who are these guys?" Naruto said as he protected himself against a clawed strike from one of the demons. He struggled to hold his own against the beast before he made a single arrow of fire and it blew up in its face. As the demon evaporated into black dust, several more were coming out of the fog and towards him.

But they were all destroyed by a barrage of quick punches that Takamichi sent before they could grab him. He jumped in front of the boy and blocked him out of sight. "Naruto-kun! You need to run and hide! Find one of us and stay clear of any of these things! Go!"

Naruto looked at the back of the older man. "T-Takamichi, I-I can't just leave-"

"NARUTO RUN!" Arika shouted as she jumped and started to engage Septendecim in combat while Takamichi charged forward with bloody hands. The stunned boy could do nothing but grunt in anger and follow the order he got from the closest thing he had to a mother.

As Naruto sprinted through the trees, he could see and hear the war rage on around him. Rakan screaming out another improvised attack name while the black behemoth roared and a little girl chanted a powerful fire spell. Eishun and Kyūbi were fighting against hundreds of demons while Gateau and Albireo charged towards the man dressed in black standing on top of the valley cliff.

The blond boy couldn't help but see that whoever these people were, they were strong enough to fight Ala Rubra on almost even terms. And they were stopping them from making it to the princess at the top of the castle. Which means that he was by himself on this.

Which was perfect...right?

He could find that girl again, open the way back and make his way home.

But then he would be abandoning the people he considered family to this fight, just so that he could run away. And that just left a bad taste in his mouth.

But he knew that he wasn't going to be able to fight this battle. He knew he was the weakest in the bunch. Even Takamichi couldn't use incantations but he fought with so much will and guts that it could be overlooked. And just looking at those other mages made him realize something almost instantly. If he fought, he would die. And that terrified him.

Naruto screamed in his head, trying to figure out what to do. If he fought, he could die. If he ran, then that girl would be lost forever. He kept repeating these ideas in his head over and over, trying to find something that would tip the scales in this panic.

_"And just like me, you will have to protect them with everything you can. So when you find them, never give them up, okay?"_ Naruto's eyes widened before he slowed down and stopped where he stood. He ignored the sounds of explosions and fighting as his eyes were shadowed out of sight.

That's right. Jii-chan told him that when he found people he could cherish, he will have to fight tooth and nail to stay by them. And here he was, on the battlefield by the side of people that he truly cared about. And he had a duty to rescue a girl he promised he would protect.

Why?

Naruto lifted his head and narrowed his eyes with a resolved decision. Because he was a part of Ala Rubra now. Because he made a promise to help the people he loved any way he could. And because when you are faced with a fight like this, no man can just run away dammit!

The young boy looked up and saw Nagi floating down close to the castle as he took his wand out from under his feet, a blinding white light shooting out of the windows similar to what had happened to him a year before. Naruto nodded to himself and sprinted towards the Thousand Master's location.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Nagi stumbled slightly on the dirt as he twirled the staff in his hand. "This just went to shit in an instant." He wiped his chin and started marching towards the castle doors, the lights fluctuating periodically. "I gotta grab the kid before-"

"Ο Μονολιθος Κιων Του Αιδου." Five huge pillars of black stone appeared over the red-headed Welshman as they dropped on him. Nagi looked up in surprise for an instant before he started a series of Shundō to desperately avoid the crashing weights. He skidded against the ground and gathered his Lightning into his hand.

He punched towards the figure overhead and a bolt of lightning flew out. But the powerful blast only dispersed as it hit an extremely durable shield of magic that completely guarded the boy inside.

"I see that you are just as excitable as ever, Nagi Springfield-San." The young boy with the white hair and full-bodied, faded purple suit descended towards the ground. With no change in his outward expression, he slowly made his way in front of the powerful Mage. "It is a pleasure to see you once again."

Nagi kept the confident smile on his face, even if he was hiding his surprise and worry that the extremely powerful doll came into the battle at such a desperate time. "Yeah, sure. Great to see you too kid." Nagi looked behind the Averruncus of the Earth anxiously as the sounds of war filled his ears. He didn't have any more time to waste. "Hey, if we can postpone this for a minute I need to-"

"Go take back the Twilight Princess, correct?" Nagi looked at the puppet mildly surprised before he started to glare at him in annoyance. "Why must you continue to make such wasted efforts for that thing?"

"She is not! A! Thing!" Nagi said through gritted teeth. "And I'll keep making those 'wasted efforts' until we get her out of here."

Fate kept a calm, leveled look at the powerful Mage as he looked out towards where the entirety of Ala Rubra was fighting against the rest of Cosmo Entelecheia. He didn't change any of his outward features, "I'll never understand how you can be so blind."

"What?" Nagi said with a hiss in his voice and a throbbing temple.

"You have such prowess, power and skill. You can defend yourself against many of the strongest of beings in this world. You even defeated my master, be it temporarily. And yet," Tertium turned his head to look at the man. "You waste your time trying to save the empty existence of this world. They may shower you with words of endearment or shun you like a pariah, but at the end of the day their existence is still just fleeting. But you still waste your time with these falsities? So why cant you understand that what we are doing is saving these people before it is too late? Even when you know the truth?"

Nagi narrowed his eyes and gripped the shaft of his staff even tighter. "Do you think that matters to me? I don't care about that 'truth' or any other you guys are trying to keep. What you are doing, and how you are doing it just don't sit right with me." Nagi clenched his fist and aimed it at the third line of leading puppet mages. "And I won't just sit down scratching my ass while I know you guys are using her for this."

Tertium lowered his head and shook in disappointment. "You do understand though, correct? That we won't just let her be taken. We will defend our Twilight until we cannot stand anymore. And even if you do succeed in taking her, we shall never stop." He flared his magical power out for emphasis on his seriousness. "Be it a year or a century, we shall always come to take her back to her rightful spot. And even you won't be able to protect her forever."

Nagi continued to glare at the Averruncus before he scoffed, causing the living marionette to look at him quizzically. "Kid you really need to understand a serious rule about shit like this." He lifted up his head and gave him another one of his trademark grins.

"There will always be someone to stop you from winning. If we can't stop you, which we will, then another bunch of guys will come and take our place. And then another and another if needed. As long as the bad guys keep trying to hurt people, there will be a group of us to stop you." Tertium had no outward change besides an almost minuscule change in the speed he was blinking, which to normal people equated to a snarl and murderous glare. "Granted, they won't be as amazing as some certain Red-Headed, lady killing heroes but they'll be pretty good."

Tertium closed his eyes and considered what he had said. "Very well. It appears that reasoning with you is truly a fool's errand. So if I must," the white-haired boy lifted up his fingers and gathered his magic together. Nagi clicked his teeth at the delayed rescue that was about to happen and prepared for a lengthy battle. "висю тал ли сютал вангэит. Τό τεῖχος-"

"Iovis Tempestas Fulguriens!"

Before either Tertium or Nagi could respond, a figure jumped out of the trees and threw a spiraling tornado of lightning at the boy casting his stone spell. Nagi was actually surprised and looked at the scene with pinhole black eyes and an open jaw as the figure landed in the smoke and dust.

A rug of blond hair held up by a spiral drawn headband jumped out as the whiskered young boy yelled at the Thousand Master. "Nagi! Go! I'll hold him off!"

Nagi just blinked in disbelief. "W-Wha- Naruto! The hell do ya think yer doing! Get the hell out of-"

"There's no time!" Naruto swiped his hand towards the castle with a desperate look in his eyes. "I'm not the one who's supposed to save her Nagi! You are! You're the only one strong enough to help her before she is hurt anymore! Please!"

"You can't fight someone like this kid! You ain't strong enough!" Nagi argued with a yell, trying to save the boy from hurting himself.

"Then hurry up and come back down here! I can at least hold him off!" Naruto ran towards the trench mark he had made that led to the intruding white boy. Before he could leave, he heard Nagi scream his name.

"Naruto!" The whiskered boy stopped his run and stood there silently. "If you go, you won't be able to go home?" Naruto and Nagi stood there silently for a moment, the red head looking at the blond's shoulders as his hands were shaking before they made the tightest fists he had ever seen the boy make before.

"How the hell can I live with myself," he turned around and gave his guardian a small but reassuring smile. "If I choose my happiness over a poor kid? Isn't that what you guys taught me?" Before he got an answer, the blond boy continued to run off as Nagi contemplated his next move.

Naruto ran through the overturned dirt as he felt his magic reserves start to wane. The thunderstorm was currently the strongest and most power consuming spell he had learned to date. Plus fighting all of those knights, mages and shadow thingies was putting a heavy toll on his physical state.

He just had to hope that the blindsided sneak attack did some damage against the boy who had gone out of his way to challenge the Thousand Master.

Naruto saw that the boy in the purple outfit was slowly walking down the crevice with his hand in his pocket, not a single scratch or dirt mark to ruin his perfect image.

Figures.

Naruto leapt forward with a Ki induced fist and swung at the older looking boy. But before he could even registered what had happened, the boy had grabbed his arm, twisted it in the air and threw him overhead and smashed him into the ground. As he gasped for air, Tertium continued to stroll forward calmly, "That was actually quite a clever move to attack me while I am concentrating on Nagi-San. I must make sure I keep a layer of defense up even when I-"

"HA!" Naruto tried to punch him from behind but the puppet only mindlessly turned, grabbed him and threw him several meters away, the young boy crashing against a tree.

"-am concentrating on an incantation."

Naruto grabbed his ribs and aching spine as he coughed up spit and tried to take in even a shallow breath. He lifted his shaky head towards the retreating back of the white boy. He wasn't even registering him like a threat. Just swatting his best attempts away on reflex. Like he was nothing more than a bug buzzing around his head.

Naruto pulled himself up to his knees as he raised his hands towards his enemy. "Irtar Peseir Matre Akqur! Evocatio Valcyriarum Contubernalia Gladiaria! Age Capiant!" Several silvery spirits flew through the air, prepared to catch and capture the form of the retreating man. But before they could even reach him, they were blown apart by an invisible shield over a foot away from him.

Tertium actually stopped his walk back towards the glowing castle and looked back to the boy who was weakly raising himself to his wobbling feet, sweat dripping down his face. The Averruncus calmly walked back towards the boy and stood in front of him, his hand still in its place within his pocket. The whiskered boy with the headband looked up at him as the puppet looked down. "What are you doing?"

Naruto tried to use that moment of questioning to surprise him with a haymaker to the chin. But the collected pre-teen easily blocked the fist before it reached over his waist and then back-handed the boy across the face. He stumbled back with a swollen cheek as he felt a ringing in his ears, unable to fully believe the immense gap in skill between the two of them. He looked down at the bleary eyed, heaving boy as he tried to stay on his feet. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

Naruto looked up through the corner of his eyes as he spit out a little blood from his lip. "My name...is Naruto Uzumaki..." He said as he wiped his mouth and stood up as much as he could, reaching about the height of the other boy's chest. "And I'm here," he concentrated as much of the Ki he had gathered over the year of training into his fists and feet as he could, "TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

Naruto started to throw every kick, punch, feint, combination and trick he had learned from his combat experiences with Ala Rubra. But the other Mage was pushing away all of his attacks with a single hand. Even with his enhanced speed and power, Tertium was using his advanced martial arts to swat the attacks away with the back of his hand.

Naruto fell back and tried to kick his opponent in the chin, but Tertium only leaned back to dodge the attack. Naruto pushed off on his hands and spun in the air, landing in a crouch as he pulled out his short blade and charged forward. As the blond closed in, the white-haired boy summoned a sword made of black volcanic glass to parry his sword.

Tertium was looking at the attempts the boy was making to cut him as his short blade and the obsidian sword made sparks between each clash. "I don't wish to fight you. It would appear domineering of me to face a child with my powers." Naruto was completely ignoring his monologue as he only concentrated on the attack. "I do not wish to face a child that does not have an involvement in this dispute. So if you will-"

*puff*

Tertium felt a small weight land on his head before he could finish his sentence. He grabbed what had landed on him and looked at it oddly.

It was a little black shoe. The same one the boy was wearing when he tried to kick him. In fact, the boy was missing a shoe right now.

Naruto saw a chance from his earlier plan of distraction as he dodged the volcanic rock sword and aimed to stab the older boy in the side. But while looking at the shoe, Tertium mindlessly swung out his arm and shattered the short blade with the back of his fist.

As the white-haired boy spun on his feet and moved toward Naruto, the blond boy jumped back with a fright. "Deflex-"

Tertium struck the boy in the center of his chest with an almost strong palm strike. But to Naruto, his eyes went white as he spat up blood and was thrown back several feet before bouncing on the dirt and impacting against another tree. Naruto groaned painfully before he slowly slumped down to his butt, unable to stand up or move.

***Swish***

"Ahhhhhh!" Naruto screamed out as the obsidian sword's tip pierced through his shoulder and pinned him to the tree. He slowly grabbed the blade of the sword, trying to at least make it budge as some painful sobs slipped out. The sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears as he looked up to see Tertium looking down at him, still no change in expression.

"I'm sorry but I needed to stop your attempts of fighting by some means. You have a lot of heart for someone of such young age and skill, but this is not a matter that involves children like you. So if you'll excuse me-"

"D-don't run, you bastard!" Tertium heard over his shoulder as Naruto tried to continue on, even as blood dripped down his hand and made a murky puddle. He tried to keep his voice strong, even with the teeth mashing pain in his shoulder.

"You were brought here with the members of Ala Rubra, correct, Naruto-kun?" Tertium said as he turned to look over his shoulder at the pinned boy. "But do you really think you are anything more than a pet to them? A mascot that runs around, yelling out their names like a herald before battle? Do you truly believe you are capable of bearing the weight that they bear? Do you even understand the truth?"

Naruto didn't respond, his eye shadowed out by his hair as he was looking down. Tertium closed his eyes and decided to leave him like that. Hopefully, he wouldn't force himself into anymore of their affairs with the realization that he wasn't strong enough. "Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki-k-"

"Pfft."

Tertium froze, hearing a failure at stifling a chuckle leave from the boy's lips. He turned around to see the boy's shoulders heave as he tried to hold back a chuckle. "What? What is so amusing?"

"Oh, just everything you said right now. It's kind of funny."

"Do you not fully comprehend the futility of your work and attempts?"

Naruto coughed but let out one last laugh before looking up at the older boy with a damaged smile.

"It's just that you kept calling me weak, simple, and just an annoyance that was dead weight to Nagi and the others, right?" Naruto settled down calmly, no longer trying to fight back as he looked up to the older-looking boy with a kind smile. "So where is all the fighting?"

Tertium slowly, for the first in a long time, felt his eyes slightly widen in surprise. He slowly turned around in a full circle, noticing that the explosion, yells of battle and flares in magical power and Ki had completely died down. Even the light from the castle windows had already died down, signifying that the ritual was either complete or interrupted.

"I guess it's over then huh?" Naruto said with a thoughtful smile as he tilted his head with closed eyes. "And the Ala Rubra pet made you waste your precious time talking to him. So I guess you lost, huh, White Haired Bad Guy-San?"

Tertium didn't say anything, just looking up at the castle silently. The black blade faded out of Naruto's shoulder, making the boy hiss in pain as more blood started to spill out down his hand. The Averruncus turned around and looked at the boy, his eyes calm but filled to the brim with a pseudo-anger.

Tertium pointed his finger at the boy, "You were a very interesting boy, Naruto-kun. Farewell." His powerful Stone affinity magic started to build up into his fingers. висю тал ли сютал вангэит. Βασιλισκὲ γαλεώτε μετά κᾦκτὼ ποδῶν καί-"

Tertium was completely blindsided as Nagi Flash Stepped into his spot, landing a powerful, lightning covered elbow into the Averruncus' side. Naruto looked up with bleary, glazed over eyes as the Red-Head now stood where the white-haired boy once was. He turned around, his cloak flapping around to reveal that he was carrying something underneath his right arm. But Naruto didn't see it. All he could see was the calm, proud smile that Nagi was giving while looking down at him.

"You did great, Naruto."

And then, the blond boy passed out.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

He slowly opened up his eyes, feeling depleted and tired as he laid on the rolled out sleeping bag. He was looking up at the black, starry sky as a shooting star flew though the sky. He turned his head to the side, seeing his dirty, bloodied shirt and worn out headband folded neatly by the flickering fire.

Naruto tried to push himself up but cringed when he felt a spike of pain run through his bandaged shoulder and chest. He hissed before he felt a cool palm on his back and looked over his shoulder to see Arika with a towel in her hand. She smiled at him as she lowered him back on his bed, "How are you feeling?"

Naruto smiled up at her as he rested down on the pillow. "I think I'm alright."

"Good." She swiftly karate-chopped his head.

"Ow! Ow!" He said as he sprung up grabbing his head, inadvertently straining his ribs and back as well. As he held onto all of the painful parts, he looked up at her with pleading, watery eyes. "Why Arika-San?"

"How could you go and challenge an Averruncus like that you foolish boy?" She almost screamed out with a protective tone, like a mother punishing her child for misbehaving. "You could have died! Do you have a death wish! Do you?"

"Make sure you think and answer her carefully kid! We are still dealing with the collateral from Nagi's confession about leaving you to fight." Naruto looked passed Arika and felt his eyes shrink in horror. Most of the visible forest was broken down into twigs and stumps. And the members of the group that he could see were all huddled around Nagi, fixing up his beaten ass as Rakan waved to them.

Naruto looked back up at the blond woman as sweat poured down his face. "N-no, ma'am." Arika frowned and raised a hand over her head. Naruto closed his eyes and readied himself for the slap that would send him flying.

But instead, he felt a warm embrace cover his whole body. He looked over to his side to see the side of Arika's head buried into his good shoulder. She squeezed him tightly to make sure that he was okay. "Don't ever do that again, okay? I don't ever want to see you get hurt like that agin. Okay?"

It was warm. It was safe in her arms.

Naruto was silent for a moment before he closed his eyes and hugged her back, trying to hide the hot water building up in the edges of his eyes.

She let go and Naruto wiped out the corners of his eyes before anyone else could laugh at him. Then he heard the sounds of charging footsteps and loud laughter as he looked up to see many of the older men from Ala Rubra come to crowd the injured blond.

"Hey kiddo! Heard you challenged that little dirt kid with a stick up his butt! Stupid move! Purely idiotic!" Naruto looked up at the gladiator and frowned at him for his jeering. Before Rakan palmed the boy's scalp and started to ruffle his hair proudly. "That's our boy!"

The whiskered youngster looked up at the large man to see him smiling a cheesy grin and giving him a thumbs up.

Takamichi dropped to his knees and grabbed Naruto's shoulders, looking relieved about the boy seeming okay. "Naruto-Kun! Thank god you're okay!"

"Y-yeah Takamichi. I'm fine."

Takamichi sighed out a breath of relief and held his racing heart. "I thought that you had been hurt because I sent you off like that. I'm so sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't want to argue with you but-"

Naruto grasped Takamichi's injured hand with a smile on his face. "It's okay. Thank you Michi." The older man smiled and nodded at the young boy.

Nagi popped back up out of the dirt, livelier than you'd expect from someone who was literally beaten into the dirt just a few moments ago. "Man! You guys should have seen it. Naruto jumped out of the trees and tried to surprise the kid! And then he said some things about, 'How can I live with myself if I choose myself over a poor kid' or something. It was actually pretty cool."

Naruto laughed and gave a big grin. Before a beat passed and he looked up to the Thousand Master as he told his battle story. "Hey, Nagi?" The welsh man looked over at Naruto as he fidgeted in his sleeping bag. "Were...did you-"

**"AH! Dammit you insufferable little wench! I'll tell you again! If you dare to touch me I shall-w-wait, I-OW MY TAIL!"** The adults looked back towards the deep and gruff voice that was yelling in anguish as his mistreatment.

Nagi sighed, "Come on Lil'Princess...I told you not to play with weird things like that." Naruto looked past them to see what was causing the ruckus.

Holding onto the base of Kyūbi's tails as he thrashed around wildly, he saw a girl with orange twin-tails that already reached her feet. She was wearing the same strange outfit he had seen her wear in that place when he arrived in this world. Naruto stood up, ignoring the faint pains running through his body and walked over to the girl.

He tapped her shoulder to get her attention. She dropped Kyūbi on his head (**"ow."**). She looked over and saw the boy standing in front of her, a small but happy smile on his face as he looked into her blue and green eyes. "See. I told you I'd bring you home. Remember-"

He looked up to see that the girl was no longer there. Instead, she had completely ignored him and walked past him and up to Nagi. "Nagi, there's something wrong with my middle part. There is a monster screaming in it." She said as she mindlessly pointed to her stomach, letting them hear her stomach grumble from hunger.

As Nagi chuckled at her cluelessness, some of the other members were looking over to where Naruto was standing there frozen, completely blank-faced at being so easily ignored from the girl he had been waiting to meet. Some of the Rubra members stood there silently, feeling the awkward atmosphere radiating from around the child.

Arika slapped her hand over Rakan's mouth before he could make a remark that was on the edge of his tongue.

Naruto lowered his head and his shoulders were trembling, some noise coming out. They thought that he might be silently sobbing. Feeling unappreciated despite all the work he had done. Arika had slowly walked over to him and was about to comfort him. "Naruto-"

Before she noticed that they were sobbing noises, but very low growls of anger as his eyebrow was twitching and grinding his teeth. The boy turned around and saw the princess was still not paying any attention to him. He marched up over to her. "Hey!"

The princess turned around and was greeted with a semi-serious chop to the head from the blond boy she had met earlier.

The young girl was bent down, cradling her bumped head. Naruto was bent down, cradling his strained ribs. The adults were all looking at the two kids, eyes white and jaws slacked.

Naruto was the first to recover as he grabbed the girl by her collar and started to shake her back and forth, her blank look never fading. "What's with you kid? I try to help you and you completely blow me off! I don't even get a second glance! A thank you? Do you have any idea what I had to do to save you?!"

Rakan walked over to him and started to add things on like a footnote. "Actually Naruto, all you did was play the diversion as Nagi swooped in to save her. So in all-"

Without missing a single beat Naruto grabbed a tired Kyūbi, jumped up, pulled back Rakan's pants, dropped the protesting fox in there and closed them. "A-ah! W-wow! Kyuu-Gi-give me a sec to-pfft s-st-stop, I-it tickles! Wai-wait, no no no, not there! Less tickle! Less tickle! Ow! Ow! OOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

As Rakan ran around screaming in agony, Naruto grabbed the girl's cheeks and childishly started to pull them. "Do you even remember me? Huh? Did my existence drop out of that empty head of yours while you were sleeping?" He said as he gave her an evil grin.

There was absolutely no change in her facial expression even as Naruto was deforming her face.

"Fine! Let me remind you! It's Naruto! Na-Ru-To!" He said as he moved her mouth in synch with his words. He let go and stood there with his arms crossed, looking commanding and glaring at her. "Say it!"

The princess was massaging her sore cheeks and looking up at him with a confused face. Before looking down straight and seeming to concentrate on what he had said. After a minute of silence...

"N...Na-Ru-To..." She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side. "Naruto."

The injured boy smiled and nodded his head. "And your name?"

"Asuna...Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia..." She said like it was as simple as counting to five.

Naruto just continued to look at her, completely hiding his incapability to say what he thought sounded like thirty different words with a conjunction in the middle. Naruto kept his confident composure, "Okay...Asuna it is." He offered her his hand to help her up. "Nice to finally meet you, Asuna" he said with a big grin plastered across his face.

And this time, she took his hand and he pulled her up. He smiled happily while she didn't not completely understand the new situation. And to him, this moment was worth all of the training and fighting until now.

It was even worth the muscle splitting marathon he ran trying to escape the claws of Kyūbi and Rakan as they chased him through the woods.

**[[[[[[[[Omake:...Evil Will Lurk About]]]]]]]]**

It was the morning after. The evidence that there was a battle in the forest last afternoon was only found from the uprooted trees and scorched earth that littered the valley.

Leisurely walking through the destroyed land, a small figure shrouded in a long black robe that slowly flapped in the breeze looked over the damages. His reserved armies were decimated. His bases were destroyed. His cult, all but humiliated. And the clincher...they had taken his precious descendent with them.

Needless to say, Fillus Zect was not amused.

"Dynamis?" Forming out from only a shadow, the towering apprentice appeared and kneeled behind the smaller looking boy. "It appears that we were not able to successfully stop Nagi Springfield and Ala Rubra from acquiring the Princess of the Twilight, were we?"

Dynamis dipped his head even further in disappointment at his own failure. "I am sorry my Master. Even with our prior preparations, we still were unable to stop them from their attack." Dynamis said with a defeated and apologetic tone. "We have lost both Nii and Septendecim in the battle. I have no right to ask for forgiveness Master."

The Mage of Beginning turned back to look forward through the valley. "Tertium?"

The Averruncus appeared out of thin air and kneeled alongside Dynamis. "Yes my Master?"

The Mage hummed an approving note. "I am glad to see that you are still functioning. How come you were not able to stall the Thousand Master long enough for the ritual to travel out again?"

"My apologies Master. I was..." Tertium was quiet for a moment as he thought through how he was so easily distracted by a child. "I was preoccupied with a matter that I should have taken care of sooner. If you wish to issue a punishment, I shall willingly take it."

"No matter. It is of little concern at this point. Were you able to erase all evidence of our influence here?"

"Yes Master. I sent all of the members of the cult to the Paradise Realm. None of them escaped. But what shall we tell the Fading City when we must send back the civilians we borrowed from them? Even if they worship you, they will not take kindly to the idea that they lost members of their Pure existence."

"We shall deal with that matter when the time comes. Perhaps give them something of even greater value for them?" He turned around and started to head back to their base of operations. "For now we need to-"

...

"Master?" Tertium asked as he saw his creator stop in place. The Mage of Beginning looked back towards the bushes and concentrated on a single spot.

The bush disappeared and the small figure behind it tried to dash out of their line of sight. The agile body jumped off the surrounding tree branches and looked at the three men in contempt. With a swift chop of his hand, he broke of a sharp twig, grabbed it in midair and threw it at the one in the center.

But the one in the purple outfit effortlessly broke the twig before it could even come close to his master. Then Dynamis raised his hand and pinned the young, dark-haired boy into the ground with a hand of shadow. The young boy thrashed around uselessly in the dirt and yelled out at them to let him go. "Where am I?! What did you do to me?! Where did you go! I'll kill you coward! I'll kill you, you bastard!"

The three remaining members of Cosmo Entelecheia looked down at the young boy in the blood stained white shorts and black shirt, a strange red and white fan insignia on the back. They could sense a strange signature of energy being emitted from his body. Tertium looked to his Master, "What shall we do with him?"

Fillus Zect looked down at the boy with the black hair calmly. Before, from underneath his hood, a small smile started to grow. So even despite his best efforts, Nagi Springfield had arrived at the ritual after it was finished. And this was the result. Another child from a far off land.

The Mage of Beginning looks down at the boy thrashing around in the dirt. "Boy...what is your name?"

The boy did not answer. He did not say another word after being acknowledged by this strange man. He only kept his mouth shut and glared up at him with all the anger, contempt and hate he could muster. Which, because of what had happened only a few hours ago, he had plenty of.

He just glared at the most powerful Mage in existence. With his crimson red eyes, a single tomoe resting around the pupil in each one.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

**_Done_**

**_Now the next chapter is going to be in the canon. But I need to decide between starting in the Eva Arc or Kyoto Arc. If i do Eva arc, I don't think I'll be having Naruto much besides interacting with certain members of the class and watching Negi start his real journey. If I do Kyoto Arc, I can get straight into the story. But every fic I've read starts at the Kyoto Arc and does the same thing right away._**

**_Personally, I'm leaning towards an Eva Start. (Because I'm really stuck up on the idea of a new Student/Teacher starting at the beginning of the new year instead of before the class trip.) But I'll happily take your thoughts on it._**

**_Finally, about the issue with honorifics and suffixes in these crossovers. They are used an unbelievable amount of time in the manga, so we've got to bring those mindsets into the fics. In the original anime and manga, Naruto never used that stuff for anyone other than Sakura and those close to him. But if Naruto was raised by both respectful and laid back people, than I think his take on honorifics should be the same. Treat the people he is familiar with and respects with informal tones. And treat the people he just met with some form of respect and formality instead of going straight into it calling them -chan when he doesn't even know them._**

**_I know two sets of people who do that. The elders who wish to treat their younger friends and acquaintances humbly. Or Misogi Kumagawa. And Naruto is neither of those. But hell, even Kumagawa used -San with new females he met._**

**_But I'll see how that works itself out later through the chapters. Maybe I'm making sense or maybe I'm just being way too anal about it._**

**_ReadxReview_**

**_Thanks and bye._**


	3. Strange Places, Old Friends, New World

The Knight Of Mahora Academy

Period 3: Strange Places, Old Friends, Brave New World

I do not own Naruto or Mahou Sensei Negima! They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Ken Akamatsu respectively.

I-I-I-I-I-I-it's h-he-he-here! IT'S HEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! THE NEW MANGA IS HERE! KICK FUCKING ASS IT LOOKS SO GOD DAMN COOL! THE AKAMATSU MACHINE IS BACK BABY! UQ HOLDER! 4! THE! WIN!

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The young teen leaned back into his seat on the train as he opened his eyes from his quick rest. His seat on the car was rattling and moving in time with the indents of the railway. He was finding it very easy to get lulled to sleep by the calming motions.

"Who is that?"

"Is he a transfer student or something?"

"Maybe he's a business man..."

"He's too young to be a business man. And he definitely isn't dressed for it."

"But he is so hot. I wonder if he is single."

"What's that cute little thing on his lap?"

"Is it a dog?"

"I think it's a cat."

Naruto had been listening to these hushed whispers pass around the cart for the last few miles. A small smile was spreading on his lips due to the fact of being the center of attention from all of the attractive school girls surrounding him. But that was to be expected when you were a completely unknown guy traveling a train into the girls' boarding school with a fox that had seven still tails snoring on your lap.

The young blond lifted his head and feigned a yawn, causing the girls to turn around before they were spotted staring. It still didn't stop them from stealing a few glances over their shoulder and whispering between each other.

Naruto laughed a little at their quirky need to talk about a new guy that caught their attention. Speaking of catching attention, Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a little bit of searching, Naruto pulled up the e-mail he had received a week earlier from one of his oldest friends.

_From: HawkGlass38_

_Sent: April 4th 7:43PM_

_To: RamenLovin1010_

_Subject: Want a job?_

_Dear Naruto-Kun,_

_How's my favorite junior doing in his unending journey around the worlds?_

_I hope you and Kyūbi-San have been getting along well. And that you have been eating a regular diet and not just fast food and microwaveable cooking._

Naruto chuckled. Michi just didn't quite understand the beauty in instant ramen. A few minutes in the heat for one of the most delicious meals he could imagine. What could beat that?

_I have a job request for you. Do you remember the school that I am working at? Mahora academy? Well the dean has been asking me for some advice on a matter and anyone I knew that could fix the issue. And whose name do you think came up?_

Geez Michi, you sounded like a door-to-door salesman, trying to sound appealing when you were selling off some useless crap.

_It would only be a short meeting, where you can hear the dean's proposal and see for yourself if you are interested in it. At most, it would take up a part of your afternoon. And I can finally see how you are doing with my own eyes._

_There is someone here who joined our staff just a month ago that I believe you should meet for yourself. The meeting is within one week, at 11:00 in the central complex of Mahora Academy. If you are interested, please respond and we can prepare for you for a Brave New World._

Naruto smiled happily as he slowly turned off his phone and looked outside to the scenery passing on the other side of the window. He had to admit. Even if the train was hectic and the girls were kind of nosy, this school was pretty damn beautiful to look at.

**"*Ding**Dong* We shall be arriving at Mahora Central Station in a moment. Please do not stall the doors and have a nice day in Mahora Academy."**

The train came to a halt as the wheels screeched on the metal. After a ping rang out through the speakers, the automated doors slid open. The boys and girls flooded through the small opening like salmon through a creek. All of them yelling to each other and making plans for their Sunday before the end of vacation.

After a moment, the blond boy with the fox was the only one left in the train car. The boy looked down and flicked the nose of the animal napping in his lap. After the initial shock, the fox looked up at him with a scowl, furrowing his miffed and tired eyes.

"Come on fuzz-ball. We're here." He lifted the fox up and placed him on his perch atop the blond's shoulder. He walked out of the train and was met with the shining light of the sun bearing down on him.

Naruto grinned from ear to scarred ear as he walked forward. "Brave New World."

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Takamichi walked through the halls of the main school building as he headed towards the Dean's Office. He arrived at the large mahogany doors that arched the doorway to his bosses' place of business.

A beautiful, busty young woman walked out and closed the doors behind her with a clipboard at her side. She walked down the hall before spotting her fellow teacher and giving him one of her beautifully calming smiles. "Good morning, Takahata-Sensei."

The peach-fuzzed man gave her a warm smile and nodded in her direction. "Good morning to you too Shizuna-Sensei. Is Dean-sama in now?"

"Of course, he has been waiting for you. You shouldn't keep him waiting." Takamichi smiled and nodded in confirmation, moving past the well-endowed woman and walking into the large principal office.

Takamichi walked inside and strolled up to the desk placed directly in front of the stained glass windows. The wizened old man in white robes was quietly signing away on a stack of papers. He heard the entrance of someone else in his 'inner sanctum' and looked up to see his trusted advisor on Academic and Magical issues. "Ah, Takamichi-kun, there you are? How have you been my boy?"

"I'm fine sir. How are you today?"

The dean pushed out of his desk and stood out of his chair, taking a slumped over position with his hands resting behind his back. "I'm sick of doing all this paperwork for one thing. You know I spent most of the time these past few years stretching out my body so I don't get arthritis, but doing all these darn papers is making all of it null and void." The dean said with throaty chuckle as he massaged his aching wrist.

Takamichi couldn't help but laugh at that concept. He could whine about his age and body getting older all he wants but Takamichi knew that when push came to shove, this man was still one of the most competent fighters in the world.

"By the way Takamichi-kun," Konoemon turned around and started to run his fingers through his long beard. "Have you received any word from the young friend of yours? The one you said would be willing to take the job?"

Takamichi seemed to stall for a moment with the question he had dreading to answer. He turned around and scratched his cheek nervously, his eyes darting around trying to look everywhere but his boss. "Ah yes, about that..."

The regional leader of the Kanto Region Magical Association just looked at the dandy looking man with an unnerving stare. The glasses wearing man tried to keep composed, but then started to hear the sound-effect 'Jiiiiiiiiiiiiii' emanating from the elder's mouth.

Takamichi sighed in defeat. "To be honest, I don't really know where he is at the moment. After I sent the e-mail he called me and told me he would come on time. But it looks like he isn't actually coming." That made Takamichi sort of sad that his old friend had actually blown him off like that. If he knew something about Naruto-kun, it was that he always did his best to keep promises.

"Perhaps he was held up in traffic? Getting close to the Mahora entrance can't be easy for someone who has never been here before." The dean said to reassure Takahata about his old acquaintance's well-being.

"Yes but even so-" Takamichi froze as he realized something. "He's never been here before... Dean-sama, do you mind if I check the security feeds for a moment?"

Konoemon raised an eyebrow in suspicion as he nodded his head. "Of course you can." He made way for the well-dressed man to activate the computer on the wooden desktop. Takamichi searched the system and pulled up the camera feed.

"If I'm right, then he must be...yep. There he is." The middle-aged teacher slowly slid his hand down his face. "Well that's embarrassing."

The dean looked down at the screen and covered his mouth. "Ohohoho. Perhaps you should go pick him up before he causes a panic." He said with a cheerful tone. As Takamichi walked out the door, Konoemon sat down and put his full concentration on the boy with the scarred temples as he seemed to be having a breakdown.

He rubbed his chin as an evil idea started to form in his old skull. "Perhaps bad boys who waste the day should be punished in kind?" A slow, evil smile started to spread across his face.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The whiskered teen was stomping around the ground angrily, his teeth flaring in rage. "Way to fucking think ahead Michi... Yeah, Brave New World and I'M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GODDAMN OCEAN!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, his scream echoing out in the empty schoolyard.

It wouldn't have been out of place for tumbleweed to bounce by at that moment. But before it could fully come into sight the teen gave it a deathly stare and it retreated back into its corner.

Naruto was seriously pissed off. He had arrived half an hour early so that he could get the drop on his old friend. But this 'school' was so damn big he got lost and now he was over an hour late.

Fuck school. This was a god damn city state. Ariadne didn't have shit on this place.

Somehow, in the hour he had been running around, he had found himself in some of the oddest places. An island in the middle of a huge lake that was used for nothing but book storage. Half a dozen gyms. Swimming pools and restaurants as far as the eye could see. He somehow found himself on a bridge, which didn't make any sense because who went out of their way to make a structure like that when there were barely any cars. He found himself at a Shinto shrine for a good few minutes. And he had even climbed all the way to the top of that ridiculously huge tree in an attempt to spot some building that seemed official. Nothing.

"I'm jumping from one building to another and I've got fuck all to show for it." Naruto said slightly seething as he stood in place, poking his forehead as he tapped his foot in place, a slight red coloring on his face. "I walked into way too many changing rooms for one day." He looked over to his shoulder to see his old fox companion looking at him with constantly moving eyebrows and a cheeky smile.

"Don't you start." Naruto breathed out and looked around with his arms crossed. "Where the hell am I supposed to go?"

"Better question is: where haven't you gone already?" Naruto blinked in surprise as he turned around and looked to the place the new voice had entered from. Naruto let a small smile cross his face at seeing his old comrade walk up to him. Wearing a pristine white suit, with glasses and a lit cigarette hanging in his mouth. "Honestly, you haven't been here for long but you already ran across most of the main campus.

It was like looking back at Gateau-San again after all these years.

Naruto chuckled and kept up an air of pride as he put his hands in his pocket. "Yeah well maybe if certain morons took the damn time to write that crap into their mail, I wouldn't have to worry about getting lost in a huge place like this." The young blond stated flatly as he gave the man an unflinching glare.

The two men stood across from each other, not moving or reacting in any way. Before, after a few moments, they both both broke into laughter. Takamichi took one last drag on his cigarette before throwing it at his feet and stomping it out. "But really, it was funny to watch you run around hopelessly in the cameras like that. It was like something out of Benny Hill."

"Aw come on man. Be a little nicer would ya. I haven't seen you in ages." Naruto choked out as he took a few breathes to calm himself down. The older man walked up to him, slightly looking down due to the few inches of difference in their height. He extended a hand out.

"It's good to see you again Naruto-kun." Naruto firmly took his hand and shook it.

"You too Michi." Naruto held on and wrapped an arm around his old friend's shoulder, Takamichi doing the same. After a moment, they let go and started following the teacher's directions.

"It's good to see you as well Kyūbi-San." All he got in return was a small yawn and resting his head back on his paws. Huh, that was more than he thought he was going to get. "I'm sorry about not sending you a map beforehand. That's poor planning on my part."

"Damn right! What the hell is with this place? It's like a freaking maze! And you live here?" Naruto and Takamichi walked side by side as they talked casually about anything they thought was interesting. Like two old friends that hadn't seen each other in a long time.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

The whiskered blond looked at the surrounding walls of the building he was in, slightly pouting at the realization. "So this was the place I was supposed to come to, huh? Way less flashy and ostentatious than I thought it would be."

Takamichi looked back at him with an impressed look. "That was a pretty big word you just used."

Naruto puffed out his chest and stood proudly. "Yes my dear Michi. I'm not the same idiot I used to be back in the day. I am far more educated and wise than that little moron you once knew."

Kyūbi just looked at him flatly and disbelievingly, a single raised brow. "What? I'm serious!" He looked back forward to see Takamichi copying the same look as the ancient fox using his shoulder had on. Naruto looked off to the side meekly, "Okay...so it was the word of the day. At least I used it right. That means I'm at least better than I was before, right?"

Takamichi laughed wholeheartedly at the boy's antics. "Yes, yes I suppose. But no, the dean doesn't think that just because he has the job, he should have an entire skyscraper belong to himself."

"Well then, he's way more levelheaded than some other guys I know." Naruto said as he put his hands on his neck and threw his arms back lazily, following the older man slowly. "Theo keeps her room at the top of the tallest tower in the castle back in her country. You have to throw your neck all the way back just to see the top of it. It's really uncomfortable."

"Hehe, yes well Theodora-sama has to do that for appearances. It's a part of being one of the royal monarchs to an entire country." Takamichi replied.

"Yeah, well what about this? Raka-ji has been living in an oasis in the middle of the desert for the last several years. It's huge, covered in columns, surrounded by mountains and has a huge spire in the middle of it for all to see for several miles. What do you call that?"

Takamichi stopped in the middle of the hall, causing Naruto to halt as well. The teacher of Mahora academy seemed to concentrate and contemplate on a possible answer. Before he just looked over at Naruto lamely, "Because he is Rakan-San."

...

"Good point." Naruto said in thoughtful realization before laughing through his grin. As they started walking again, Naruto looked back out the window and over Mahora academy. Its beauty was enhanced even more by the sight of the falling Sakura tree petals. "This place is amazing Michi. I can't believe this place is a school."

"Yes well that is to be expected from one of the best boarding schools in the world. Thousands of students need some of the best accommodations we can afford. Plus there are hundreds of activities to do after classes are done."

"Yeah, but I mean it's still a school, right? That can't be as much fun for all the students here." Naruto said offhandedly as he watched dozens of boys and girls walk around in front of the main building. He remember hearing from dozens of adults that school was an important and irreplaceable experience to be had. And he had heard from even more kids that it was possibly the most boring thing someone could do for most of the day.

Which is probably why he had skipped out on that experience in its entirety.

"Well I can't really say due to having a biased opinion with being a teacher. But from what the students have told me, if there were any place for them to attend school, they were glad it was this place." Naruto chuckled with that exclamation. Takamichi seemed to become somber at the choice for his next phrase.

"And I think...she seems to enjoy herself here."

Naruto froze in place, almost making the fox on his shoulder slip off from the abrupt stop. Takamichi and Kyūbi looked at the boy who was by the window, his eyes completely blocked out by his bangs. Takamichi bit the inside of his cheek. He should have realized that it would be a sore subject to bring up so remotely. "Naruto-kun-"

"It's okay Michi. I remember what you told me before. About how no matter what happens, she wouldn't be able to remember anything that happened before. But you told me that it was for the best that she didn't remember what happened back then." Naruto looked back up at his old friend and gave him a big smile. "So I know that she is doing well. And that is all that matters."

Takamichi just looked at Naruto in pained shock. If he had heard just those words, he would have easily believed what he had said. But he didn't just hear them. He saw the young man's face. And all he could see was a fake smile that tried to hide the same pain he had the first time he told him the truth.

It was the same expression he had when Takamichi went to tell him the news the first time a little under a decade ago.

It had been several months since Naruto had last seen the entire group together in one place. They all had to go their separate ways, taking care of issues that needed their full attention. Nagi, Al-Jiji and Gateau-San were traveling in the Middle East so as not to bring any danger to the princess that was in their care. Eishun-San had to return to Japan to regulate a war threat between two factions. And Takamichi was traveling all over the world, helping both Nagi's group and assisting Arika-San as she was preparing for her child. And Raka-ji was left in the magical world, protecting it from any forms of aggravated attacks from the organization.

So when Takamichi had traveled all the way from Japan and to the middle of the Mgaical World, Naruto knew that it was either good news or bad news that brought him there. And considering that Gateau-San was nowhere to be found...it was bad.

Naruto had never been so horrified in his entire life then on that day. In an instant, everything he knew about the world seemed to crumble into nothing.

Takamichi had confirmed that the rumors spreading around about Nagi were true, not a trace of his body was found anywhere.

Albireo had disappeared off the face of the worlds. Not a single clue. Not a single trace.

He had told him that Arika was gone. He didn't go into detail about what had happened. All he said was that she was gone. And now, their newborn son was left all alone in the world. From the look on his face, Naruto knew that it was a far more painful subject for Takamichi to talk about.

Eishun was locked in the conflict in Japan. He couldn't leave, or else war would descend in such a fragile state for the magical community.

And finally, Gateau was killed. And Asuna had lost everything that she had once had. From what he had said, not a single remnant of the old twilight princess was salvageable.

Naruto was in complete despair. The strongest team in the world. The people that had taken him in as a family. The people he cherished more than anything else in this world...and they were gone.

Before Naruto could run off back to Earth, Rakan had grabbed him and pinned him to the ground. The young boy could do nothing but scream his lungs out, cursing the old gladiator for not being there to help them in their time of need. But even with all the venomous words he said, the boy fell from his anger and screamed out for hours in pain at the loss.

Takamichi knew Ala Rubra for a very long time and saw every member of that team as someone he could trust his life with. But he knew that out of the whole team, Naruto had suffered the worse from the news. Because more than just a team, these were his family and most trusted friends and idols. These were the first true people that had accepted him. And Ala Rubra was gone.

He had never seen someone fall into such unrivaled despair before. Let alone the usually happy blond.

No. Wait. That isn't true. There was one other time he had seen the boy so broken before. But that was over half a decade years ago. And that was something he didn't need to relive at the moment.

Naruto did his best to forget the melancholy that had resurfaced itself in the moment as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and walked past the older man. "C'mon Takamichi," he grasped the shoulder of his friend, giving him a legitimate smile. "We can't leave this waiting forever."

Takamichi watched the back of the boy that he had seen grown up after all these years as he walked down the hall. To see him keep moving forward, even with all that had happened to him before.

Takamichi realized that the boy still didn't know where to go. So he started to catch up to him and lead him back down the right path.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Takamichi walked into the office of the dean. "Dean-sama, here is the young man I wanted you to meet." Konoemon turned around in his chair and faced the front entrance, seeing the form of the young man that he had been expecting to talk to the entire day.

Out of the doorway, a young and lean blond man walked into sight. He was quite tall, only a few inches shorter than the older suited man standing by his side. He had vibrant, spiky blond hair that was long enough to almost reach his shoulders. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a designer white shirt, a simple black jacket to finish off the look. Across his smiling face were six whisker-like markers, three on each cheek. And from the spot he was sitting in, the old dean could see three faded scars that started at the end of his whiskers and cut off over his right ear. Perched on his right shoulder, a small fox was looking around lazily at his new surroundings.

The elder got up out of his chair and addressed the young boy that had entered his chambers. "Ah, Naruto Uzumaki-kun. I have been anticipating this meeting. It is nice to finally meet you. I am the dean of Mahora Academy, Konoemon Konoe."

The teenager felt his eyes widen in surprise when hearing the man say his name. This man shared the same last name as Eishun-San. And he could also sense an unconscious emission of power cooking from the old man. He had to be careful with what was said next.

Naruto nodded his head towards the elder. "Thank you sir. It is an honor." On the inside, the youngest man in the room looked over the wrinkled man and examined him. He was covered in elegant white robes and carried an air of regal superiority around him. Naruto would have applauded himself for being able to hide the terrified shock he had when he saw the size of that man's eyebrows but thought it to be unprofessional.

Konoemon offered him a seat across the desk that Naruto took willingly. The old Mage sat back into his chair, "Now, I wanted to have some time to spare for small talk but I think we lost that chance. So we should just get straight to the business."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. "I don't actually know why I am here? Takamichi told me this was a job opportunity but didn't really elaborate on what it was about...does a lot of that actually." He looked over his shoulder and glared lightly at the older gentleman, making him look away in shame.

The Konoe elder coughed to get their attention back on him. "Yes well you see my boy, Takamichi-kun gave me your number because I was in need of someone who could...keep the peace and secrets tolerable while under the radar."

Naruto gave him a quizzical look and raised an eyebrow. Before a small smirk formed and he leaned forward, placing his arms over the desk. "Keep what secret? Exactly?"

"Ohoho, I think you know exactly what it is." Konoemon said with a cheeky tone as he leaned forward and propped head with his hands. "Magic."

**"Good than he knows."** Naruto felt a powerful smack strike his face as he was completely caught off guard. The young man fell to the floor with a defeated grunt as a surprised Takamichi and Dean watched the small fox flip through the air and land on the desk perfectly. He sat there calmly as his seven tails mindlessly moved behind him. **"I was getting tired as hell just waiting for a safe spot to talk."**

Naruto massaged his red cheek as he pushed himself up and glared at the sitting fox with pure hate. "God dammit Fleabag! What the hell was that for you bastard?" The boy hopped up on his knees and got right up in the small demon's face.

**"That's for wasting all that time running around the damn school. Did it not occur to you that you could have gone to a directory or asked one of the people you passed by to give you the directions?"** The small animal stated calmly and in a matter-of-fact tone. Which was the complete opposite of the teeth flaring boy that was slowly huffing through his teeth.

Naruto snarled through his teeth. "If you were thinking that, why the hell didn't you say anything before?"

**"Because we made an agreement that when we were in public, I had to stay quiet so that the presence of a talking fox would not cause a riot in the audience of people we were not certain had any affiliation with the magical world."** Kyūbi kept his level and calm stare for a few moments. Before a toothy and cheeky grin grew over his features. **"And also cause I love to see you look all stupid and hopeless like that." **Naruto felt a vein pop in the back of his head. Even after all these years of docile behavior and calming days, this little bastard was still one of the most evil existences he had ever met. **"Plus the flustered look you had when walked in on all those girls was pretty damn priceless. Wish I had a phone."**

"You little son of a-"

"Anyway..." The dean said as he tried to control the ruckus in his room. "I was told that you were an old comrade of Takamichi-kun's. In fact, I heard that you used to tag along with the entire Ala Rubra back in its later days. I didn't truly believe that such a young lad could be a comrade of Nagi and his friends, but after that little skit I can't help but see the resemblance."

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Aw you sweet talker. I don't actually think I was an official member of the club back then. More of an apprentice that tagged along for the ride."

The dean of the boarding school wagged his finger in argument. "Not from what I've heard. Takamichi-kun and Eishun speak of you quite fondly. And I continue to hear rumors from the magical world of a blond superhero that swoops in to save the day in the nick of time. Something that I believe you learned from another group of crazy powerful heroes, hmmm?"

Naruto could do nothing but embarrassingly shrug his shoulders. He would be lying if he said that Ala Rubra wasn't basically his entire base for his current choice of motives and actions. Wow, they had really screwed him up more than he had originally thought.

"Naruto-kun, this school is a very concentrated point for magical beings to flock to. Some are invited. But most are the types to sneak their way in to syphon off the abundant magic power that can build up in certain places. And they are not too friendly to our local residents if they were to meet."

Naruto leaned back into his chair and crossed his legs with a contemplating gaze. "So you want to hire me as a guard to stop any intrusions of these magical beings?"

The dean got himself into a professional position in his chair. "Normally that would be enough, but recently we hired a young lad who has some rather influential standing in the magical community. A Negi Springfield-kun."

Naruto and Kyūbi both felt their eyes widen in surprise as the blond lost his entire professional act and looked at the man anxiously. "S-Springfield!" He looked back to a subtly smiling Takamichi. "I-is he Nagi's...?" He left the question hang in worry that he may have dropped the ball too soon.

Takamichi nodded his head in agreement. And Naruto felt a sense of shock, amazement and joy grow inside as his open mouth formed a smile.

"Negi-kun has just started a teaching job in our employ no longer than a month ago. He is quite the skilled young man. He was able to motivate our most academically challenged class enough to raise their ranking from last place to first in less than a week. But even though he is doing an excellent job on his own, he is still quite inexperienced and could use some guidance along the way."

"Yeah...if I remember he shouldn't really be old enough for anything like that." He looked back toward the other teacher standing off to the side. "How old is he anyway?"

"He's over 9 years old. He'll be ten next month." Takamichi replied. Naruto and Kyūbi looked at him in utter disbelief.

"Ten years old! Why the hell is he a teacher?"

"It was the assignment he was sent with after he had graduated from the magical academy. He has to act as the Homeroom teacher for Class 3A to show that he has grown into a competent Mage. And if he can, then he will be taking his first steps into claiming the title of Magister Magi."

**"Oh...so he's motivated by that, huh? But being a teacher at that age, are you sure that he is Nagi's brat? Seems way too smart by any means to be that moron's kid. Must've skipped a generation or something."** Kyūbi stated blandly as he scratched the back of his ears.

"Ignore him." Naruto said as he tried to get the conversation back on track. "So what exactly do you want me to do? Train him? Evaluate him?" He saw the dean and Takamichi look between each other expectantly.

"We want you to work as an assistant teacher underneath the school faculty and keep an eye on Negi-kun's activities. At least until the beginning of Summer Vacation."

Naruto didn't react in any way as what the man said was slowly taking root. "Assistant teacher?" They nodded in agreement. "Me?" Nodded again. "Okaaaaayyyyy...you do understand that I'm not smart enough to be a teacher, right?"

"I am well aware of that, yes."

"Then why would you give me such a position like that? I don't have the credentials and skill to help a teacher, even one that's a kid, take care of their classes. And until the summer! Are you crazy?" Naruto shook his head in complete bewilderment at the idea. "My bank account keeps getting emptied and if I don't regulate it, Raka-ji is gonna bleed me dry! I can't stick to one job like this for so long!"

"I will be more than willing to compensate you for both a teaching job and border patrol work. And as for credentials, we can help you along the way with learning the appropriate materials and curriculum for each class you will be assisting in. And over time I promise you will learn more along the way."

Naruto was looking at him helplessly. "Y-yeah, but-"

The boy with the scarred ear felt a hand grasp his shoulder while he looked up at the dandy man in the suit. "Negi-kun is a good young man who has already won the heart of his class. But last week, several of his students were almost harmed in their attempts to prepare themselves for their end of term finals. All of them unaware of the fact that magic even exists."

Naruto looked from the teacher to the dean, a cold sweat dripping down his face. "What kind of exams are you giving these kids?" The dean just chuckled darkly.

"We are not telling you that there will be any simple issues, but at the same time there hopefully won't be any outstanding dangers. But there are a lot of innocent civilians and normal people in that class who could be caught up in something dangerous without them being prepared. And when the time comes, I think you would be the best choice in helping Negi-kun through his ordeals." Takamichi pulled his hand off and placed it in his pocket. "Please consider this Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked down and thought through what he was told. It was a pretty long job to take. And there were a lot of uncertainties along with it. But he did want to meet the child that he had never gotten to see before. And if he could help him with his magic, then that would just be a plus.

"I...I don't know. Maybe I could?" He said with much uncertainty about the idea of taking this job. Takamichi nodded, understanding the weight of a choice like this. It wasn't really something you should just say yes to on a whim.

The dean leaned back and grabbed something from under his desk. He pulled it out and placed it on the desktop, letting the young blond see the folder he had prepared. "Well Naruto-kun, if you want some help making a decision, you can go to this meeting to help with your choice."

Naruto looked through the folder with pictures and bios that were spread across the dean's desk. They showed the profiles of many handsome and successful men. Ranging from doctors, astronauts, lawyers and political advisors at 25 to higher years of age. He looked up at the Konoe elder, "What is this? Some kind of board meeting between higher ups?" Naruto had been to things like this before. But he was more along the lines of security for wealthy companies than actual member of the talk.

"Well I think it is more appropriate to call it an 'Investment into the future'." Naruto chose to ignore the gulp he heard Takamichi try to hide. "But believe me, there is no better way to help you make your decision than going there and seeing for yourself. But a little warning, whoever you meet there has no knowledge of the Magical Society, so keep that under wraps ok." The dean gave a playful wink to the boy that made him feel sort of dirty being on the other end of it.

God it was like hanging out with Al-Jiji all over again.

Naruto thought through the idea for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. Konoemon gave him a wrinkly smile and a nod of thanks. He pulled out a map, "Here is where the meeting will be taking place. It is in one hour so make sure you give yourself enough time to prepare. There will be a change of clothes waiting for you there. And thank you Naruto-kun."

The blond gave a reluctant smile and got out of his chair. He looked at the fox, "You stay here with Michi. I'll be back as soon as I can." Naruto walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Takamichi looked at the dean in disbelief. "Sir! You didn't actually do what I think you did, right?"

The old man just gave a throaty chuckle and turned his chair around. "I just thought that it would be fun to let a little trouble maker learn a lesson about making his meetings on time. And also, you never know what kind of big miracles can come out of small chances."

Kyūbi just looked between the two men confusingly. **"W-wait I don't get it? What happened?"** Takamichi sighed and leaned down, whispering something into the demon's ear as his eyes slowly widened.

Shizuna was about to walk in to the office to talk to the dean when she heard a deep throaty giggle come from the room. That slowly formed into a happy laugh. And finally turned into a maniacal, almost demonic hysteria that made her freeze in worry. She slowly and wearingly started to walk backwards, away from the rumbling doors.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Naruto was lazily fiddling with a teabag that he found in a Japanese tea set on the low table. He was dressed up completely in an expensive male kimono and he was sitting crossed leg style on the floor pillow placed on the tatami. The room he was waiting in was elegantly prepared and traditionally Japanese, an open window was blowing in a gentle breeze with petals floating down the wind.

Naruto had been waiting for about 30 minutes for this meeting to assemble. It took him the other half-hour to find this place and get dressed for the meeting. He didn't exactly know why he had to be dressed up in a kimono to meet so many wealthy men but he wasn't in a position to complain at the moment. But like hell he was going to sit in seiza for half an hour when no one else was even here.

No one was here. He didn't know how to make himself a cup of tea. And he couldn't bring his phone in here with him so he couldn't look up the most recent Chiu homepage update. This was turning into a pretty sucky afternoon.

The sounds of feet shuffling were coming out of the other side of the door. Naruto bucked up and realized that he was lounging around in the traditionally prepared room. He pulled himself out of his crossed position and sat his knees down on the pillow. He straightened up his kimono and sat in wait for whoever came through the door.

He looked down at his hand to see that he was still holding the crumpled up tea-bag. He looked around in panic to find a place to hide it before he tossed it over his shoulder. Unfortunately, over his shoulder was the open window so he tried to ignore the sound of someone cursing in surprise at being bombarded with tea-bags.

The door slid open to reveal a young girl walking in first. Naruto could do nothing else but look up at her in surprise. She was a young girl, with unblemished skin and silky, chestnut brown hair waist-length hair. She was dressed up in a formal, exquisite flower patterned kimono with pins holding her hair out of her eyes. She walked in with an elegance and grace she must have gained from years of experience. But among all the beauty and regality she had a rather unpleasant or unwilling look in her eye, like she was forced into it.

Either way, Naruto was completely stunned by the young beauty that had walked through the door.

The girl looked up from the spot on the ground and towards the boy at the table. She had a mildly surprised expression across her face, like she wasn't expecting someone like him. Naruto also realized that he had been staring a bit longer than anticipated and looked off to the side, a little pink hue on his face.

The girl sat on the other side of the table as a woman at the door smiled and bowed her head. "The meeting will officially begin in ten minutes. Please wait here until then." She walked out and closed the door behind her, leaving the two teenagers alone in the room.

The girl sat down silently in the seiza form while Naruto continued to look off in another direction to avoid any more awkward moments before the rest of the group arrived.

But as a full minute passed with no talking and no more arrivals from any of the people he was expecting, Naruto was getting very uncomfortable. Even the girl was slightly fidgeting in her spot. "Excuse me?" Naruto looked back over to the girl who was giving a nervous smile. "I'm sorry. This isn't like most of the meetings I have come to before."

Naruto blinked and then gave a small laugh at the sudden ease she had at breaking the tension. He leaned back and scratched his neck with a smile, "Yeah. I know what you mean. I've never actually been this involved with a meeting before." They both laughed lightly at the prospect of that.

Naruto calmed down and bowed his head slightly towards the girl. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you."

The girl gave a similar motion towards him. "Thank you. My name is Konoka Konoe." She finished with giving a kind smile towards the slightly older boy.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, Konoe? Does that mean you are-"

The girl nodded her head in agreement. "Yes. I am the granddaughter of the headmaster of this school. I'm sorry that you weren't told that beforehand."

Naruto just looked at her in complete disbelief. "Old man? White robes? Looks like a cross between Gandalf and E.T.?"

"That's my Grandpa."

The whiskered boy's eyes turned white. "Wow." He fell back onto his feet. There was no way a girl this pretty was related from someone so...leathery? Is that the word?

Naruto then realized something else. "Does that mean...your father is Eishun Konoe?" This time it was the girl's turn to look at him in surprise.

"Do you know my father?"

"Y-yes! Yeah, I used to travel with Eishun-San a long time ago! He used to send me manga all the time when he was back home." Naruto said with a fond smile of his past experiences.

Konoka placed her soft fist in her palm. "I remember my father was always traveling around a lot when I was younger. But I always thought it was for business. I didn't think he was off having fun with his friends. Meanie." She said with an adorable pout and crossing her arms.

Naruto waved his palm with a laugh. "No no. He was always on-" Naruto realized what the dean had said earlier about whoever he met in this meeting was unaware of the existence of magic. Even though he could sense a slight presence of magical power coming off of the girl, it wasn't any more than a normal person. He filed that away as a question for later, "-business when he came to visit. They didn't have as much fun as you'd think."

That was a bald face lie. But he was trying to save Eishun-san's skin right now so that was kind of necessary.

Konoka gave him a little look before nodding her head. "Ok. I guess you're right." She giggled a little at the relieved breath Naruto let out after she had said that. "Thank you Naruto-San."

The blond boy looked over to her, "For what?"

"For making me laugh like this. I don't really like coming to these things but if I have to stay for them, I'm glad I can talk to someone who understand how strange it is to come to an Omiai." She said as she placed her hand on her cheek.

Naruto smiled in relief, "Its okay. I don't think I would be able to handle coming to an Omiai all by my-" Naruto froze.

...

He cleaned out his ear with his pinky finger. "I-I'm sorry. I think I heard you wrong. I thought you said this was an Omiai?"

"Yes. This was an Omiai that Grandfather set up for me. Maida-San will act as the matchmaker when she comes back."

Naruto didn't react in anyway except for his eyebrow to periodically twitch. "No way!" He yelled out suddenly, surprising Konoka as he reached behind him and pulled out a folder. He opened it up and pointed desperately at the pictures of the men inside. "I'm supposed to be meeting these guys here for a business meeting! To help me decide on a job to take!"

Konoka looked at the pictures which her hand under her chin. "Oh yeah. Those are the other suitors Grandfather has set up for me." She sighed tiredly. "He wanted me to take a look at their profiles but I really didn't want to."

Naruto dropped the folder and looked at her with a blank, shock covered face. "So the old man...sent me here...to a marriage interview... And he didn't even tell me?"

Konoka nervously smiled and nodded her head. "Sorry."

Naruto lowered his head dejectedly as a raincloud formed overhead. Konoka could do nothing but worryingly move out from her spot at the desk and by his side, trying to help just in case he was completely defeated. But before she could do anything, Naruto got up to his feet with his head still hanging down.

"DAMN YOU OL'MAN!" Konoka looked up at his outburst with surprised, pinpoint black eyes. "I SWEAR WHEN I WRING MY HANDS AROUND YER TURKEY NECK, I'M GONNA MAKE YA BEG FER MERCY! MARK MY WORDS!" He yelled so loudly that the room slightly shook and Konoka could have sworn she saw fire coming out of his mouth.

Naruto stopped his angry tirade as he huffed in anger. He heard a dainty giggle and looked down to see Konoka stifle her laughter. "W-what?"

I'm sorry." She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "It's just I heard your accent slip a little when you were threatening my grandpa. It's cute."

Naruto looked away with an embarrassed blush. Damn. He forgot he would slip into his old dialect when he got too excited. And in front of a girl he had just met. Oh god.

"I've got one too, see." She said as her words changed from Tokyo-Ben to a hint of Kansai-Ben. "I was born in Kyoto, and I've still got a little bit of it with me. Where is yours from?"

Naruto got up off of his pillow and looked around the room. "Sort of out of the way and...rural." He walked over to the window and looked outside for an escape route. "Sorry about threatening your grandpa."

"Heheh, it's okay. But if you are going to beat him up, can you give him a bonk on the head for me?" She said as she placed her fist on the side of her head.

Naruto smiled and nodded his head. He grabbed the edges of the window and put a foot on the frame, ready to escape. But before he did, he stalled and looked over his shoulder at the girl that had gotten up out of her seat. He turned around and lowered a hand, "Wanna run away before the Matchmaker gets back?"

Konoka looked at him in disbelief. "But if I run, all of Grandfather's hard work and effort will be completely wasted."

Naruto grew a little guilty when she said that. "W-well yeah, but-"

She then gave him a huge smile. "I'm in!" Naruto looked at her with a raised brown in accusation. "I run away all the time. I just like to see you look all surprised and funny like that. It's cute." She picked up all of the pictures and profiles on the table and collected them in the folder in her arms.

Naruto huffed and shook his head. He leaned down and offered his hand again as Konoka raised hers and took it willingly.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Konoka giggled happily as she walked down the empty street with the taller blond by her side, laughing as well. "Really? My dad used to punish you if you didn't eat all the food on your plate?"

Naruto walked by while laughing wholeheartedly. "Not just me. Raka-ji, Al-Jiji, Gateau-San, Michi-anybody who didn't eat up everything they were given were forced to run away as fast as they could while he swung around a soup ladle. The Hotpot Shogun they called him." He clutched his stomach as he remembered all the things Eishun-San used to do to Raka-ji and Nagi when they didn't eat all their vegetables.

The strongest men in history cowered before the might of the Hotpot Shogun.

Konoka laughed so hard she was finding it hard to breathe. Naruto waited as she caught her breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. He was finding this little moment of peace to be really fun. Konoka was very kind and always had a smile on her face, finding all the stories he told her about her dad to be a ton of fun.

It was even making up for the faint presence of angry Ki that was being directed at him from some remote location. He didn't know who it was and he wasn't putting his full effort in finding their location but he knew they were following him since he had escaped the building with the girl. And whenever he got too close to the plucky girl, the Ki flared.

So he decided against making a move. He didn't want to start a fight when didn't have any leeway here.

Konoka finished her laughing fit and stood back up. "T-thanks for telling me all that. It's funny to hear what my father was like back when he was traveling."

"How is Eishun-San doing nowadays?"

"He's doing great!" The girl answered eagerly as the two of them walked aimlessly down the school street, Naruto only wearing socks and the girl's sandals clicking together. "He's always working back home in Kyoto but every time I see him he always looks like he's doing fine. He's the one who sent me here to Mahora. Says it was a chance for a whole new way of life."

"Was he right?"

The cheerful girl nodded her head happily. "I made tons of new friends in my class. I met Nodoka, Yue and Haruna in the Library Expedition Club. I've known Iincho since I was in primary school." Naruto chuckled as she listed off all the people in her class she knew or had met, which was probably everyone because she seemed to be a very likable girl.

"Oh, and my roommate Asuna is always arguing with Negi-kun in the morning. But I just think that's because she is starting to warm up to him."

Naruto stopped in place after what Konoka had said. The heiress continued to walk a few steps before she realized her traveling companion had stopped. She looked back to him with some slight worry. "Is something wrong?"

Naruto looked up at her and gave her a wide smile. "No, everything's fine. Just thought about something I forgot. So, these roommates of yours, what are they like?"

Konoka thought carefully. "Well Negi-kun just transferred here a few weeks ago as our new Homeroom teacher. He's not very old but he's really, really smart. And he did his best in trying to help the Baka Rangers with their test exams and he succeeded. He got our class to be the #1 in overall test scores." She remembered how happy her class was when they got the news and clapped her hands excitingly. "And he's really cute. He gets a little mad when we don't call him teacher but I think he's more of an adorable little brother than anything else."

Naruto looked at her as she fondly reminisced about Nagi's son as he smiled.

"Also, every morning he wakes up and he sleep-walked his way into Asuna's top bunk. Cause he's got this little habit of going to sleep in the same bed as his sister. And he said that Asuna kinda looks and smells like her so he climbs his way up and- ah. Oh, I shouldn't be telling you all his little secrets. He'll get mad at me for blabbing about his embarrassing little condition."

The young blond man chuckled, "Yeah I bet." He seemed to look off into the distance as he considered something. "And your roommate Asuna...what's she like?"

"Asuna? Well...she's kind of a blockhead."

Naruto looked at her with stark white eyes. "Eh?"

"Yep. She's the dumbest member of the Baka Rangers. Whenever she has remedial classes she has to stay behind the longest to take the make-up test over and over. And when she doesn't have anything to do she sleeps in till noon, if I'm lucky. She always beats Negi-kun up when she thinks he's done something wrong and she starts fights with Iincho at the drop of a hat. Plus she's got a crush on our old Homeroom teacher, Takahata-sensei, which she always has a hard time working out."

Naruto chuckled weakly and felt a large sweat drip down his face. Asuna had a crush on Michi? Wow. That was...unexpected.

"But, even with all that..." Naruto lifted his head to where Konoka had stopped and looked up at the sunny sky with a fond smile, her hands behind her back. "She's kind, considerate and strong and always thinks about helping me or anyone else in trouble. She doesn't like to say anything but I know she's the one who helps Negi-kun through all the problems he has. She's hotheaded but..." Konoka looked over to the boy with the scarred ear and gave him a big smile. "She's definitely my Best Friend."

Naruto looked at her in stunned, unbelievable surprise. He slowly looked down at the ground and inclined his head back, looking up at the sky. He felt a slow but steady smile grow on his face from hearing what she had to say about her roommate. "She sounds nice."

The two teens finally reached an empty school compound that would suffice for a hiding spot for the young heiress. The blond boy looked over at Konoka, "Are you sure you'll be alright here?"

Konoka nodded her head. "I know some of my bodyguards will probably be looking for me so this will be the best place to hide. No one would think about looking inside an empty school, right?"

Naruto laughed and agreed with her. He started to make his way out when-

"Thank you!" He turned around to the girl that had taken some steps towards him with her hand stretched out. She brought them back to her chest, "I mean, thank you for everything you did today. I hate going to these meetings Grandpa sets up but I have to go because it's for my future. But...but thanks to that I got to meet someone fun like you. Who understood that I shouldn't be going to things like this so early. Someone who could tell me old stories about my dad and listen to me babble on and make me laugh. Thank you for that."

Naruto could have sworn his cheeks heated up a little when she thanked him with that innocent smile. He gave her an equally thankful grin. "Thank you too. I didn't think this was going to be a good day but I got to go to a fake marriage interview, run away from said interview and talk with someone like you."

"Maybe, if you're ever in the school grounds again, I can show you around the campus. My treat for helping me today."

"I'd like that. See you soon, Konoka-San." He finished with a smile.

"Yeah. You too, Naruto-kun." She replied with her own smile.

Naruto waved goodbye and walked back towards the campus, leaving the girl to happily wave him goodbye. And by him leaving, he missed meeting a red-headed boy landing on the ground with a familiar staff in hand moments later.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Naruto was walking down the streets of Mahora City, carefully thinking about his next course of action. He had to be very precise and very quiet about it. Not too slow. But not too fast. Carefully.

"Selling out a potential employee and his granddaughter...that man needs a lesson. And someone to teach him that lesson." An evil grin stretched out from his face, showing off comically sharp and pointy teeth. "And I'm just the kind of guy to do it. Just wait old man. I'm coming after you! Aha-Ahahaha-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"

Naruto rounded the corner while laughing like the Joker on gas. And while rounding that corner, he walked straight into a group of girls who momentarily stopped yelling out for a 'prince'. The girls, who were all ranging from short to tall, busty to flat, blonde to pink, were looking at the boy like he was the one who was the odd person out.

For an instant, Naruto's skin went ashen out of sheer shame of his action. In the span of a few seconds, Naruto was standing completely motionless in front of this group of varied girls and didn't know what to do. So what do you do when you make an idiot of yourself in front of more than a dozen different girls and you have no way of explaining yourself without looking mad?

Simple. As Raka-ji would say, 'You play out the idiot and run like hell!'

"HaHaHaHa! Yes! There is nothing that foolish old man can do to stop me now! Soon I shall control all of Mahora! And then, the world! Bwahahahahahahahaha!" He hammed as he walked through the crowd, paying them no mind as he moved around like a mad man.

The girls made room as the older boy started laughing hysterically and running away, towards an alley on the other side of the road. They were left standing there with question marks hovering over their heads. "W-what on Earth was that about?" Asked a pretty blonde girl that was at the front, leading the pack.

"It kind of looked like a madman, plotting the takeover of the school while dressed up in a Kimono." A girl with vibrant red hair done up in a pineapple fashion answered as she lowered the microphone in her hand.

...

"Don't see that every day-De Gozaru." A tall, busty girl with squinty eyes replied while two young kindergarteners looked between each other frighteningly.

"Maybe he gonna try to fight for winning school-Aru?" A dark-skinned girl said in rather rough Japanese while bouncing on her feet, excited at the idea of battling a madman.

"Or maybe one of the local crazies got out of his jacket and stumbled his way here. It seems far more likely to happen than the idea that a madman would try to capture a boarding school." A very short girl with a large forehead replied in a stable monotone. Besides her, a nervous girl with her eyes hidden by her bangs was finding it hard to switch from the previous topic to talks about insane teenaged dictators.

"Yes, that may be the case. But still- Ah!" The blonde girl shrieked and palmed her face loudly. "We do not have time to waste on the prospect of insane boys! My prince calls to me! Negi-Sensei~!" As the blonde girl ran off, the other girls were gawking at her in disbelief.

"Mou, Iincho~! You cheater!" A short girl with ribbons in her pink hair yelled as she chased after her class president. Soon, each of the girl classmates had remembered their previous task of chasing after the Prince in the Slums continued to search for him.

Around the corner of the alley, Naruto had one hand on the brick wall to support him as he hung his head in shame. His face was covered in a shade of blue while stink lines were forming over his head. "I can't believe I just did that...damn you old man. Damn you!"

Naruto was furious now. Fuck subtlety. Fuck the secrets of magic! That man was getting a foot up his ass. Naruto didn't care who he met anymore, he was just on a mission to teach that man a lesson. He didn't even care that he didn't know where he was going again. All that mattered was-

"Omphf."

Naruto felt someone walk into him as he turned another corner towards wherever he was going. He stumbled back a little but kept on his feet as the person that had run into him had fallen on their butt. From the sound of their grunt and resulting moan, he knew it was a girl. He looked down at the fallen girl, "Oh, s-sorry about-"

***Clink***

Naruto froze as he heard the sound of bell chimes. The ringing continued as the girl rubbed the back of her head in pain. "Ow." Naruto didn't say anything as he looked down at the orange-haired, twin-tailed girl. She was dressed in what he could guess was the school uniform with a sleeveless red vest and plaid skirt.

"Man...ow. Watch where you're going ya jerk!" She waved her arms around and looked up to see the blond boy was not reacting to anything she said. She got up and waved her hands around his face. "Hello? Anyone there? Great, I broke some foreign kid. Gotta find Negi before he gets surrounded by everyone." She walked past the boy and cupped her mouth, "Negi? Neg-"

Naruto reached back and instinctively grabbed the collar of her vest, causing her to slightly gag. She coughed a little and looked back with a glare at him. "What was that for you jerk?!"

Naruto was a little confused as to why he did that. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know why but-"

"Do you just like choking people in the middle of the street? I'm in a hurry here Whiskers, and I don't need you grabbing my clothes while I'm trying to find that kid!"

Naruto blinked slowly at her tone. He closed his eyes and decided to follow the flow. "Well sorry Bells! But maybe you could go out of your way to apologize to the guy ya just ran into! No 'sorry' or 'are you okay'? Nope! Just 'get out of my way' and run! Some serious guts you've got to blame me!"

"W-wh-You were the one just standing in the street, dressed like you just came back from the Feudal era! Plus, I'm the one who got knocked over! And what are you made of anyway, iron? Geez it was like walking into a brick wall!"

"I get that a lot! You know, if you're looking for some kid, there were a bunch of girls heading that way saying something about a prince!" Asuna looks in the direction that the kimono wearing blond was pointing.

"Thanks! That's very helpful!" She screamed at him with the same intensity but actually meant it as a sincere thanks.

"Don't mention it! By the way, do you have any idea where the Dean's office is? I'm lost!" He said with a matching loud voice.

"Yeah! It's that way, take a right and go straight until you see the intersection! It's the building with the stained glass, can't miss it!"

"Great!"

"See ya later, Whiskers!"

"Bye, Asuna!"

The two teenagers stomped off, leaving the odd conversation of mixed calm and angry yelling at an end. The bell-wearing girl walked a few feet before it dawned on her that the boy had said her name. "W-wait? How'd you know-"

He was out of sight. Nowhere to be seen as Asuna was left standing there. Why did she feel bad? Like leaving that conversation off like that was a slap in his face?

Baka Red blinked several times. She ran off in the direction he pointed in, "Ah! I don't have time for this! Negi! Where the hell are you?"

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

**"Hahaha, that was actually kind of fun. I've got to make sure I go back there if I'm staying."** The old fox said with a giggle as the shoulder he was standing on was swaying slightly. Kyūbi looked down, **"What's wrong with you, Bakamichi? Can't handle your liquor?"**

Takahata was trying to find his bearings as he was losing his balance, a mild pink hue marked his face. "I-I can hold it. I'm just not used to drinking like this so early in the day. It's-*hiccup*-sort of unethical."

**"Hey, it's got to be happy hour somewhere, right?"** The demon fox jumped off his shoulder and in front of the Dean's door. **"You build up a pretty strong immunity when you've gone clubbing with that moron for so many years."**

Takamichi opened up the large doors and was met with an odd sight. On top of the desk, a familiar blond boy was standing with his foot tapping repeatedly and his arms crossed over his chest. Like a bully picking on a nerd for money. Said nerd in this case was the esteemed Dean of Mahora Academy.

"So, old man, mind telling me why you were pimping out me and your granddaughter? Seems like a strange little hobby for the Principal of a school like this to have in his off-time? Like selling off kids."

Konoemon was sweating and dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "Now now, Naruto-kun. I know you must be mad but there is no reason for hostility. I just wanted you to meet my granddaughter, Konoka. She's a sweet girl, don't you think?" Naruto softly bonked his head with his fist and turned around on the desk, leaving a crossed bandage on the old Konoe's head.

Naruto jumped off of the desk and started to walk around in a line. "Oh yeah. One of the nicest girls I've ever met. Heart fully of honey and kind words that make Barney look like a grizzled biker. And you just put her up for marriage with all those old guys." He turned and pointed at him with an accusing pout. "And just so you know, she hates going to those things. Runs away from them all the time."

Konoemon breathed tiredly. "Yes. Yes I know she does not enjoy them. But I do it for the sake of her future. Even if she grows to hate me, I will do whatever it takes to make sure my granddaughter has a happy future."

Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head. Families. They do the weirdest things to make sure they can keep each other happy and safe. "Yeah, well...put a little faith in her, okay? She's a wonderful girl. I'm sure she'll have no problem reeling in some poor sap without any help from you."

Takamichi smiled and adjusted his glasses. "She may have already done so."

Naruto turned and glared. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Hmmm...speaking of saps, where have you two been?"

**"Getting plastered with the wrinkly guy's supply of aged wine."**

"Pla-It's not even 4 yet! Why are you guys getting drunk in the middle of the day?"

"I think I should say that it is for celebration of old friends gathering together again after such a long time."

"Should?"

"I think if I didn't, Kyūbi-San would probably have answered, 'Cause we can.'"

**"Damn straight."**

Naruto just palmed his face and shook his head in disappointment. These were the generations assisted by the growth of Ala Rubra. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Konoemon pulled the comical bandage off his head. "So, Naruto-kun. Walking a mile in our shoes? How does it feel? Have you decided?"

Naruto looked between the adults. "I can't believe this place. It's crazy. It's ridiculous. The staff seems to be as immature as the students." Dean and teacher lowered their heads in shame. Naruto was silent as he thought through all the bad points of the day.

And then he thought through those simple, minuscule little good points.

"...I'm in." The Dean smiled and nodded his head while Takahata showed a pleased expression at his choice. "Yeah, I can't just leave this place in the hands of you two weirdoes. Gotta do what I can to get this place checked up on its Human Rights Laws."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. The new term starts tomorrow, I'll be setting you up as an assistant teacher over the night and you'll start in Negi-kun's class. You can stay with Takamichi-kun until I can find you a new home for the year."

He started to walk out of the office when he turned back and pointed at the men. "The start of summer. Got it? I'll stay here for the term but then I'm off." He swung his hand and the perched fox jumped to the floor, following his partner's steps.

Takamichi dropped into the guest chair and breathed out in relief. The Dean got comfortable in his own chair, "Is this what you wanted?"

The dandy man smiled and nodded his head. "I keep being told about how he keeps running around the worlds, taking bodyguard duties and protecting royal families. Looking for something that he could do. A place where he belongs. And I think he'll find that place here."

The Dean turned in his chair and looked out the window, watching the cheerful blond have a one-sided conversation with the fox on his shoulder. "You have so much faith in this boy, don't you?"

Takamichi smiled and lit a cigarette in his mouth. "I think...he was the shining ray of hope we needed when we thought our efforts were in the dark. And if anyone will help Negi-kun push through the fights he has ahead, I think a brother would be the best choice.

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

Naruto was uncomfortably fiddling with the tie wrapped around his neck, feeling it dig into his chin whenever he stopped moving. "Michi, can you do something about this damn noose? I'm not a saint but even I think I deserve an easier sentence than 'slowly chaffed to death by some crummy cloth'."

Takamichi shook his head while he heard Naruto argue childishly with the fox on his shoulder. He turned around, "I think you look rather good with that tie, Naruto-kun. Handsome. Dapper." He looked his old friend over as he stood still, dressed up in a chic black suit with a red tie and black shoes.

Naruto scoffed, "Great. Dapper. Don't even know what that means." He pulled on the tie a little and gave himself some breathing room. He swung his arms, "You sure they'll even take me seriously?"

"Of course they will. Why wouldn't they?"

He pointed to his cheeks. "The whiskers?"

"It's a quirky class, they need a quirky teacher."

He pointed to his right temple and ear. "The scars? Can't really say authority figure when I look like I just came back from the Thunderdome."

"It gives you character."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and finally, pointed at the animal clawed into his shoulder. "How about the Furtastic Asshole?"

"Ummm, j-just keep him away from the students...and keep an eye on him."

**"Teehee."**

Naruto and Takamichi walked up to the sliding doors with the sign 3-A over it. He held up his hand, "Stay here for a moment. I'll go tell Negi-kun to prepare." The blond nodded his head and leaned against the windows of the class.

He looked inside to see Takamichi talk to a figure that was blocked out by a section of the window's frame. So he looked over and into the classroom instead. His eyes widened when he saw that most of the girls that had seen him make an idiot of himself yesterday were sitting in the class. He panicked even more when he realized that it was an all girl's class.

Takamichi walked out and motioned to him with a wave of his hand. "Alright, they're ready for you."

"Michi, could you come here for a second?" The dandy man followed his request and walked over to him.

The young red-head boy with the ponytail looked over to the doorway with concern as he heard his old friend get quietly whispered to. Which then evolved into mild yelling. And then some reassuring words from Takamichi. Which ended with, from what Negi could guess, several very hard head-smacks against the window.

There was a moment of silence. "T-Takamichi?"

Takahata-sensei appeared in the doorway again with his hand behind his head and laughing easily. "Sorry about that Negi-kun. I just forgot to tell my new associate something but it's all good now." He walked back to the front of the class and in front of Nagi's son. "As I was saying, we've decided to add a new member of staff to your class as an addition for the new year. He will be your assistant and I hope you'll be able to help him along the way."

A tall, blond young man walked into the classroom, his face in his hands like he just realized he had made a horrible mistake. A strange little fox on his arm was wagging his tails excitedly as the boy huffed loudly into his hands. He pulled back and gave the classroom of girls a big, kind smile. A large, throbbing red mark on his forehead from repeatedly slamming his face into the window outside.

"Hello everyone. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm going to be your assistant teacher for the next term. Please treat me well."

**[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]**

**_Have you guys seen the promo pictures for UQ Holder? Looks so good. Based ten years after magic was revealed to the rest of the world. So you just know that there has got to be some Negima people in this bad boy._**

**_Main kid looks like a cross between Negi and Kotarou._**

**_The main(?) girl looks like an expy of Setsuna before the Kyoto Arc._**

**_Teacher(?) is Nekane lookalike._**

**_And in the background, we got clones of Nagi, Filius, Fate, Narutakis and Dynamis. A good mix of both boys and girls, instead of leaning towards just one extreme._**

**_Oh, and swords. Lots and lots of swords. And a broom. Squeal!_**

**_Anyway, August 28th. Set ya calendars._**

**_ReadxReview_**

**_Thanks and Bye_**


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